The authorities of Transdniestria, a pro-Russian separatist territory in Moldova, said they feared on Monday that this territory would find itself completely without electricity after the end of Russian gas supplies due to a commercial dispute between Moscow and Chisinau.
This small territory of half a million inhabitants which has escaped the control of the central Moldovan authorities since the fall of the USSR has already shut down many industrial companies last week and introduced nighttime blackouts for the population.
Faced with winter temperatures and the shutdown of central heating in buildings, residents were forced to burn wood or use individual electric heaters, further increasing the pressure on the electricity network.
“In Transdniestria today we use a third more than the capacity produced, do you understand? And if this situation continues […] there could be technological malfunctions and even a fire,” the leader of this territory, Vadim Krasnosselski, expressed alarm on Monday in an address to the population. If this situation continues, “we will find ourselves without electricity,” he warned.
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