CHISINAU, January 11. /TASS/. Former Moldovan President Igor Dodon has called on the country's authorities to start negotiations with the Russian leadership in order to ask for help in overcoming the energy crisis.
"I am calling on the top leadership of Moldova to think again, to pacify their arrogance, to stop playing Western Russophobic hysteria and urgently request high-level negotiations with our strategic Russian partners in order to find an opportunity to help the Moldovan people survive this winter," Dodon wrote in his Telegram channel.
He warned that "Moldova and its citizens will be hit by the energy crisis in the coming weeks, with excessive increases in tariffs and prices for most goods and services."
"Attempts by individual leaders of Moldova to shift responsibility for this social and energy genocide to "global trends" cannot serve as an excuse amid lower energy prices for such European countries as Serbia, Hungary, as well as Germany and other countries that were able to agree with the Russian Federation," Dodon said.
During his tenure as the President Dodon repeatedly sought from Russia favorable gas prices and other preferences for Moldova. He recalled that in the past six months the country's leadership had not taken advantage of the opportunity to establish a direct dialogue with the Russian authorities, ignoring three summits within the CIS and four within the EAEU, where Moldova received observer status.
Situation in Moldova
On Tuesday, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Spinu said that the country is facing the next stage of the energy crisis, since in December the purchase price for gas was $450 per 1,000 cubic meters and rose to $646 in January. The price soared due to the growth of prices on the European gas exchanges and the cost of a basket of petroleum products, the purchase price is fixed under the contract with Gazprom.
Spinu said that the Moldovan government had turned to Gazprom with a new request to defer payments for gas supplies in January 2022. According to him, there is no problem with the payment for the gas that was imported in December. However, he presented forecasts according to which Moldovagaz will lack about 25 mln euros to fulfill its financial obligations on supplies this month by January 20.
In October, Moldovagaz and Gazprom extended the contract for the supply of gas for five years. The gas price formula for the republic takes into account the ratio of market prices for gas and oil. In accordance with the new contract, in November the gas price for Moldova was $450 per 1,000 cubic meters. There is an important clause which implies that by the 20th day of each month Moldova is obliged to pay the cost of gas consumed in the previous month, as well as half of the volume consumed in the current month.
Earlier, Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov said that currently the debt of Moldovagaz to the company is $433 mln, and taking into account the delay in payments, the debt totals $709 mln.