Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist territory in Moldova, is introducing new power cuts for the population due to the cessation of Russian gas deliveries, vital for its half-million inhabitants.
This small territory, which has escaped the control of the Moldovan 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 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Switzerland), the separatist government announced on Telegram. “One-hour breaks are not enough to guarantee the security of the electricity supply system,” said the leader of the separatists, Vadim Krasnosselski, in a press release. “The specialists insist that, from tomorrow, (the duration) of the cuts be increased to four hours,” he also specified.
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 the region 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 be paid to 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. Outside of Transnistria, 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.
