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Chisinau, Moldova — Moldova started transporting EU-funded gas to the pro-Russian, breakaway region of Transnistria, hit by an unprecedented energy crisis, the government said Saturday.
Russian state energy giant Gazprom halted gas supplies to Transnistria on January 1 over a debt dispute with the pro-EU Moldovan government, leaving the roughly 400,000 residents there without any heating or hot water.
The European Union stepped in earlier this week, offering 30 million euros ($32 million) in emergency aid to help buy gas for the region.
As a result, Moldova’s commission for emergency situations said Saturday it had approved “a series of measures” to deliver gas to the region, while also condemning Russia’s “energy blackmail”.
READ: Transnistria ready to buy gas from Moldova, separatist leader says
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State-owned Energocom will deliver up to three million cubic meters of gas a day to local supplier Tiraspoltransgaz — enough to supply the region until February 10, the commission said in a statement.
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Internationally recognized as part of Moldova, Transnistria declared independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union and has been reliant on Moscow’s financial support ever since.
Russian giant Gazprom has supplied gas to the region free of charge, as a way to back separatists against Chisinau, Moldova’s capital.
But on January 1, Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine ceased, when a Kyiv-Moscow gas transit contract expired.
Gazprom has refused to use other routes citing a financial dispute with Moldova, and the amount of debt to be paid by Chisinau.
Residents in Transnistria have suffered heating and electricity cut-offs ever since, prompting an EU emergency aid package.
The EU said this was a first step before a larger financial package “in the coming weeks”.
Transnistria regional leader Vadim Krasnosselski thanked President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen for her “cooperation and efficiency”.
Moldova has accused the Kremlin of trying to generate instability in the region after Moldovan President Maia Sandu took a pro-European turn at the end of 2020.
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The rest of Moldova has been spared gas cuts thanks to pricey gas and electricity imports from neighbouring Romania.