The disruption of the flow of Russian natural gas to Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria has forced all industrial businesses to close except for food producers, an official said today.
This mainly Russian-speaking region of about 450,000 people, which broke away from Moldova in the 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed, was hit hard and immediately by the disruption yesterday of the flow of Russian natural gas to central and eastern Europe via Ukraine.
All industrial enterprises are idle, with the exception of those involved in food production – that is, food security for Transnistria, Sergei Obolonik, the region’s first deputy prime minister, told a local news channel.
“It is too early to judge how the situation will develop … The problem is so widespread that if it is not resolved for a long time, we will have irreversible changes – that is, businesses will lose the ability to reopen.”
Ukraine has been allowing Russia to keep natural gas flowing through its territory despite the three-year war, collecting up to a billion euros in transit fees. However, Kiev refused to renew the five-year agreement that expired on Wednesday.
European buyers of Russian gas such as Slovakia and Austria had prepared for the disruption by securing alternative supplies. But Transnistria, despite its ties to Moscow and the presence of 1,500 Russian troops there, was paralyzed.
They cut heating and hot water
The local power company cut off heating and hot water to households on Wednesday, urging families to huddle in a single room, covering windows with curtains or blankets, using electric heaters, to stay warm.
Transnistrian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said the region has natural gas reserves that could probably last for 10 days of limited use in its northern parts and twice that in the south.
He said the main power station now runs on coal rather than natural gas and should be able to provide electricity to residents in January and February.
Russia supplied about 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to Transnistria, including the power plant that generates power for all of Moldova, a country of 2.5 million people that wants to join the European Union.
Moldova has a long history of disputes with Russia over gas payments and strained relations. The former Soviet republic is trying to reduce its energy dependence by at least a third and import 60% of its needs from neighboring Romania.
Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the end of Russian gas transit “one of Moscow’s biggest defeats” and called on the United States to supply more gas to Europe.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe has reduced its dependence on Russian energy sources and increased its imports from other sources, including natural gas via a pipeline from Norway and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US and Qatar.
In a statement today, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the loss of Russian natural gas is hurting Europe financially and that the US is the beneficiary.
“The responsibility for the interruption of Russian gas supplies rests entirely with the United States, the puppet regime of Kiev, as well as the authorities of European states that sacrificed the well-being of their citizens for the sake of providing financial support to the American economy,” she said herself.
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