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Hundreds of thousands of people in Transnistria face a harsh winter without heating after the Kremlin-backed local leadership declined offers to secure alternatives to Russian gas following the sudden cutoff of supplies at the start of the year, documents obtained by POLITICO reveal.
According to a letter from Transnistria’s Tiraspoltransgaz, dated Thursday, the breakaway region rejected an offer from counterparts in Moldova, offering support to buy fuel from the European market.
The unrecognized state declared independence from Moldova in the 1990s and has maintained its de facto independence with the support of more than 1,000 Russian soldiers stationed there. Moscow historically shipped natural gas to the territory free of charge but state energy firm Gazprom ended exports on Jan. 1.
Apartment buildings and business across the region have been left without heating and hot water as a result of the shut-off, with residents told to insulate their homes as temperatures drop to below zero degrees Celsius
According to the letter, signed by Tiraspoltransgaz director Igor Lisachenko, Moldova’s Moldovagaz offered to facilitate “the purchase of gas from European gas platforms” to meet local needs. However, the response reads, transitioning to non-Russian gas “actually means moving from stable supplies from Gazprom to purchases on speculative terms at much higher and unstable prices.”
Currently, Transnistria is receiving no gas from either Russia or Moldova, and Moldovan government officials say the region’s leaders have also refused offers of humanitarian aid, including generators.
Neither Tiraspoltransgaz nor the unrecognized government of Transnistria immediately responded to a request to comment on the exchange. A Moldovan government source confirmed to POLITICO that the exchange took place, adding that they believed it showed Moscow — rather than local leaders — were behind the decision.
“I find it extraordinary that given the gravity of the crisis, where schools and kindergartens are shut and people freeze in their homes, the authorities in Tiraspol refuse to accept Moldova’s help,” said Aura Sabadus, non-resident senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
“Instead of working with Moldovan authorities to find the best solution to protect the population at this very difficult time, they prefer to wait for Russian help which may or may not come,” she added. “Moldovan companies have clearly proven there are solutions to solve the issue, with the cost to bring the gas calculated by Moldovans at anything between €20 million to €45 million for this cold season.”
Last summer, Moldova’s then-energy minister, Victor Parlicov, told POLITICO that Transnistria had been put in a precarious position as a result of changing energy supply routes, but that the Moldovan government continued to fund the separatists’ budget with electricity purchases to avoid what he called a “humanitarian crisis.”
