Moldova PM warns of security crisis, denounces Russian gas cut-off

Kyiv (Reuters): Moldova faces a security crisis after tens of thousands of residents in the breakaway enclave of Transdniestria were cut off from Russian gas supply, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on Friday.

Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine which supplied central and eastern Europe were halted at the end of 2024 as Kyiv rejected doing further business with Moscow.

Recean said Moldova would cover its energy needs with domestic production and imports but noted the separatist Transdniestria region had suffered a painful hit despite its ties with Moscow.

“By jeopardizing the future of the protectorate, it has backed for three decades in an effort to destabilize Moldova, Russia is revealing the inevitable outcome for all its allies – betrayal and isolation,” Recean said in a statement.

“We treat this as a security crisis aimed at enabling the return of pro-Russian forces to power in Moldova and weaponizing our territory against Ukraine, with whom we share a 1,200 km border.”

The southeast European nation of about 2.5 million people has been in the spotlight since Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine at a time of mounting tensions between Moscow and the West.

Its pro-European President Maia Sandu won a second term in an election last year and has pledged to accelerate reform and consolidate democratization.

Moldova plans to hold a parliamentary election this summer.

The mainly Russian-speaking territory of Transdniestria, which split from Moldova in the 1990s, received Russian gas via Ukraine.

In turn, Moldova used to receive the bulk of its electricity from Transdniestria but with Kyiv making clear it would stop gas transit from Russia, the Chisinau government prepared alternative arrangements, with a mixture of domestic production and electricity imports from Romania, Recean said.

He said the Moldovan government remained committed to helping the enclave.

“Alternative energy solutions, such as biomass systems, generators, humanitarian aid, and essential medical supplies, are ready for delivery should the breakaway leadership accept the support,” the government said in a statement.

Transdniestria’s pro-Russian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky has said the region had gas reserves that could cover 10 days of limited usage in northern parts and twice as long in the south.