The Russian Federation may provoke an even greater crisis in unrecognized Transnistria before the parliamentary elections in the fall and influence the vote on the left bank of the Dniester. All in order to destabilize the situation in the country.
This was stated by the President of Moldova Maja Sandu, according to the Moldovan media outlet NewsMaker.
“People are in this situation because of the Russian Federation, which has been using them all these years. The Russian Federation can provoke an even bigger crisis at any moment, depending on whether this crisis serves its plans in the Republic of Moldova or not. We can expect this crisis to escalate in the coming months, before the elections,” Sandu said.
According to her, Russia may try not only to corrupt voters in Transnistria, as has happened before, but also to blackmail the population, deliberately provoking instability in the region.
“Russia will tell them that to get out of this situation, they need to influence the vote on the right bank. We can expect all kinds of games,” the Moldovan president said.
She assures that state institutions are analyzing these risks and will do everything possible to ensure that these fall elections are free and fair.
On June 11, Transnistria once again declared a state of emergency in the economy for 30 days due to a reduction in natural gas supplies to the region. The so-called authorities of the unrecognized Transnistria cited the reduction in natural gas supplies to the left bank of the Dniester as the reason.
The State Secretary of the Ministry of Energy Cristina Pereteacu told the press that there is a risk of a potential escalation of the energy crisis in the region. However, the official reminded that the region cannot be controlled by constitutional authorities.
Maja Sandu says that after the interruption of gas supplies, they were restored, but the situation remains “unstable”. When asked whether the Chisinau authorities were ready to intervene to support the population on the left bank of the Dniester, she replied that a support plan exists, but it depends on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Transnistrian region. According to her, this is a key problem, if it is not resolved, there will be no possibility to justify financial support.
Energy crisis in Moldova
From January 1, 2025, Ukraine stopped the transit of Russian gas, which several EU states and the unrecognized Transnistria continued to receive.
At the same time, Moldova did not agree to Russiaʼs demands to continue gas supplies to Transnistria via an alternative route through the Balkans. Therefore, on December 28, 2024, “Gazprom” officially announced that it would stop supplying gas to Transnistria from January due to “non-fulfillment of payment obligations”.
In Transnistria, the supply of heat and hot water to residential buildings has been cut off. In high-rise buildings, gas is available only for cooking. It is supplied from reserves in the gas pipeline system, but only until the pressure in the network drops to a critical level. Industrial enterprises have suspended work, and since January 3, fanned power outages have been introduced.
At first , the Transnistrian Republic refused to help Moldova purchase gas on European markets, waiting for the Russian “Gazprom” to resume supplies.
On January 15, the leader of unrecognized Transnistria Vadim Krasnoselsky announced that Russia would restore gas supplies to unrecognized Transnistria — doing so in the form of humanitarian and technical assistance. He then said that Russia would provide a loan for this.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.