MOSCOW, January 8. /TASS/. The blocking of power supplies to Transnistria by Moldova is a mockery of the area's residents, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Sputnik radio station.
The diplomat noted that it "is happening under the model the West is promoting around the world, under the false slogans of freedom and democracy, which implies addressing political and geopolitical issues with all available tools, including, quite literally, neo-Nazism."
"They start to harass and persecute people on national and socio-cultural grounds. The entire armory, the whole toolkit is being used, as it concerns the absolutely limitless, permissive use of the whole range of methods that should have disappeared into oblivion. They use everything, from linguistic harassment to now shutting down vital sources. It's mockery in the truest sense of this term," the spokeswoman said.
Gas supplies to Moldova have been cut off since early January following a ban on the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine and Chisinau's refusal to settle debts for consumed fuel, which Russia estimates at $709 million.
Unlike Moldova, Transnistria has no alternative sources of gas. To save resources, central heating and hot water supply to residential buildings have been cut off, and industrial enterprises have been shut down, marking the beginning of power cuts. The Moldavian TPP on the left bank of the Dniester River has been switched to coal, which is expected to last until late January or mid-February.