“In Transdniestria, we are currently using a third more than the capacity produced”
Faced with winter temperatures and daily central heating cuts in buildings, residents were forced to heat with wood or resort to 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.
This against Gazprom
The Russian giant Gazprom has until now supplied Transdniestria with gas via the local supplier Tiraspoltransgaz, without this company paying for these deliveries. Transdniestria sent payment requests to Chisinau, gradually increasing Moldova’s debt to Gazprom.
The conflict over the amount of the debt to be settled 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 cut off the tap from 1is January.
The rest of Moldova has so far been spared from the cuts, but depends for a large part of its electricity needs on the Cuciurgan thermal power station, located in Transdniestria.
Reserves of “50-52 days”
This important infrastructure, which produced up to 80% of Moldova’s electricity production, has not been supplying since 1is January more than the territory of Transdniestria and now runs on coal, with reserves estimated at the beginning of January by the authorities at “50-52 days”, or until mid-February.
The Russian embassy in Chisinau said on Monday that it was “observing with concern the rapid deterioration of the situation” there, accusing “pro-government media” in Moldova and Ukraine of “cynically blaming the energy crisis” on Moscow.
The Russian embassy added that it rejects the idea that “Moscow has abandoned Tiraspol”. “Propaganda attacks” aim, according to her, “to undermine the confidence of the inhabitants of Transdniestria in Russia”.
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