MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. The situation in Transnistria, where an energy and humanitarian crisis has erupted, is worsening, Foreign Minister of the unrecognized republic Vitaly Ignatyev said.
"Unfortunately, the humanitarian and energy crises continue to worsen. The situation is far from stabilizing; on the contrary, it is deteriorating. As you know, in Transnistria, the supply of heat and hot water has been completely suspended, while gas is being used solely to power stovetops in order to avoid destabilizing the entire system. There are rotating blackouts lasting up to eight hours at a time. During the daytime, power is cut off in four-hour intervals. Many internal networks, some of which date back to the Soviet era, are failing. All Transnistrian enterprises are shut down and are not operating," Ignatyev said on the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
The crisis escalated after Gazprom halted gas supplies to Moldova in early January, citing a ban on transit through Ukraine and Chisinau's failure to resolve outstanding debt, which the Russian side estimates at $709 million.
In this regard, the Russian-owned Moldovan TPP, which supplies electricity to Moldova and Transnistria, has been converted to coal and only serves consumers on the left bank of the Dniester, while Moldova is now buying pricier electricity from Romania. Last week, the tariff for consumers of Premier Energy, the market's largest operator, increased by 75% to 4.10 lei ($0.22) per 1 kWh.
Unlike Moldova, Transnistria has no alternative gas sources. In order to save money, central heating has been shut off there, the supply of hot water to residential houses has been cut off, industrial enterprises have been shut down, and power cuts have begun. Coal reserves at the Moldovan TPP are projected to last until the end of January or mid-February.