Transnistria, a separatist territory occupied by Russia in Moldova, announced on Saturday that it would introduce new power cuts for the population due to the cessation of deliveries of Russian gas, vital for its half-million inhabitants. This small territory which has escaped the control of the capital Chisinau since the fall of the USSR had already shut down many industrial companies on Thursday due to the lack of electricity. Then on Friday, she introduced the first power cuts for the population.
These new cuts take place on Saturday “for three hours”between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. (12:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. GMT), the separatist government announced on Telegram. “One-hour breaks are not enough to ensure the safety of the power supply system”justified the leader of the separatists, Vadim Krasnosselski, in a press release. “Specialists insist that, from tomorrow, (the duration) of the cuts be increased to four hours”he also clarified.
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The Russian giant Gazprom has until now supplied Transnistria with gas via the local supplier Tiraspoltransgaz, without this company paying for these deliveries. However, as Transnistria was not recognized by the international community, the secessionist entity sent payment requests to Chisinau, gradually increasing Moldova’s debt to Gazprom. The conflict over the amount of the debt to settle with Gazprom – estimated at more than 700 million dollars by Moscow but estimated at only around 9 million by Chisinau – pushed the Russian giant to turn off the tap from January 1.
The rest of Moldova has so far been spared from the cuts, notably thanks to help from neighboring Romania and after taking drastic measures to reduce consumption in the country. Excluding Transdniestria, Moldova has already no longer received Russian gas since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in 2022, but depends for a large part of its electricity needs on the Cuciurgan power plant, located in Transnistria. Russia also stopped its gas deliveries to the European Union via Ukraine on January 1, after the expiration of a transit contract signed between the two parties at the end of 2019 and which kyiv refused to renew.
Swiss
