CHISINAU, April 24. /TASS/. Moldova was, in fact, consuming Russian gas all winter long, despite the authorities’ claims to the contrary. The country’s former president, executive secretary of the Party of Socialists of Moldova, Igor Dodon said this on Monday.

"We were using Russian gas all throughout the winter, although the Moldovan authorities said that it was some kind of alternative gas and that they did not buy from Gazprom. But we all understand that it was the same Russian gas that we bought through intermediaries and we paid big money for it," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

Dodon recalled that when the price of gas on international markets dropped to $400-500 per 1,000 cubic meters, Moldova had to buy it at a price of over $1,000 per 1,000 cubic meters.

"This led to a significant increase in tariffs within the country. The poor population, which is already hurting due to the current authorities’ incompetence making them poorer, had to pay high prices for these energy resources," he explained.

In February, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said that for the first time in the country’s history, the republic was not dependent on a single source for its natural gas supplies. She thanked western partners for helping finance programs to overcome energy vulnerability, which allowed the authorities to provide compensation and financial support to the most vulnerable segments of the population.

Moldova is experiencing an energy crisis due to rising gas and electricity prices, leading to protests in the country. Besides that, since October 2022, Gazprom, which until last year was the only gas supplier to the republic, reduced its daily supply by 30%. The Russian company explained this away by citing technical problems associated with restricting transit through Ukraine, but the Moldovan authorities blamed the crisis on the Russian gas holding. In this situation, the authorities said that the gas shortage is covered by last year’s gas reserves (including Russian gas), which were pumped into underground storage facilities in Ukraine and Romania.