CHISINAU, November 10. /TASS/. Moldova is seeking to use Transnistria as a hostage to exert pressure on Russia, Vadim Krasnoselsky, the leader of the unrecognized Republic of Transnistria, said on Wednesday.

"To my mind, some Moldovan leaders want to use Transnistria as a hostage in relations with Russia, to take advantage of the fact that this a territory with a largely Russian-speaking population and that there are a lot of Russian citizens there. They obviously hope that Russia will not leave them out in the cold and will be forced to supply Moldova with cheap electricity, cheat gas in the quantity it needs under the contract," he said.

According to Krasnoselsky, Transnistria had to shut industrial enterprises due to the 40-percent decrease in gas supplies in November. He said that Chisinau, which is gripped by grass-roots anti-government protests, is interested in spreading instability. "It wants to export protests. Why do people take to the streets only in Moldova? <…> It can kill to birds with one stone: to leave people without jobs and shut our enterprises to make us economically weaker and to blackmail Russia," he surmised.

Russia’s gas utility Gazprom said earlier it was decreasing gas supplies to Moldova by 52% in November due to problems with its transportation via Ukraine. Following that, Moldova cut gas supplies to Transnistria by 40%, to 2.3 million cubic meters a day, whereas the rest of the country receives 3.4 million cubic meters. Previously however, three fifths of gas were pumped to Transnistria, where the Moldovan electricity plant is located.