STORY: :: January 4, 2025
:: Tiraspol, Moldova
The pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova is facing extended power cuts, local authorities said, after being left without Russian gas supplies no longer transiting through neighboring Ukraine.
Hour-long cuts were first imposed in Transdniestria on Friday evening after heating and hot water supplies were curtailed.
They were extended to three hours on Saturday.
The region’s self-styled president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, wrote on the Telegram messaging app that rolling power cuts would be extended to four hours on Sunday.
All industries except those producing food have been shut down.
A resident in Tiraspol, the enclave’s main city, voiced concern about the cold temperatures ahead.
“This night we had a bit of a hard time because it was very cold and the walls were damp. It was OK as my child was wrapped up, but they are forecasting freezing cold now.”
:: File
Transdniestria had received gas from Russian giant Gazprom through a pipeline crossing Ukraine.
Those flows stopped on New Year’s Day after a transit deal expired between the warring countries and Kyiv refused to extend it.
:: January 3, 2025
The mainly Russian-speaking enclave has lived side-by-side with Moldova since breaking away from it in the last days of Soviet rule.
Separately from the transit dispute with Ukraine, Gazprom said in late December it would halt supplies to Moldova on January 1 over $709 million in unpaid gas debts. Moldova disputes that and has put the debt at around $9 million.
Moldova’s government blames Russia for the crisis and has called on Gazprom to ship gas through alternative routes.
Russia denies using gas as a weapon to coerce Moldova, and blames Kyiv for refusing to renew the gas transit deal.
:: January 3, 2025
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said last week his country faced a security crisis over the situation and that the government had prepared alternative arrangements, with a mixture of domestic production and electricity imports from Romania.