CHISINAU, January 17. /TASS/. Despite President Maia Sandu’s promises, the Moldovan authorities are unwilling to allow gas transit to Transnistria, president of the unrecognized republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky, said.
"Attempts to divert people’s attention from the real state of things are absurd and useless. Mrs. Sandu, please spare people this pointless rhetoric by Moldovan officials and do what you promised - open a path to gas supplies to Transnistria," he wrote on his Telegram channel, commenting on the statements by Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean and presidential spokesman Igor Zakharov that only Moldovagaz can supply gas to Transnistria.
He called on the Moldovan government to stop misleading the public. "Please study the legal norms of your own state. If Moldovan officials happen to be unaware, let me remind them that along with Moldovagaz, licensed intermediaries are allowed to supply gas. Moreover, amid the continuing state of emergency in Moldova, actions outside the legal framework are allowed. Another important aspect people seem to be ignoring is that on December 28, 2024, Moldovagaz officially notified Tiraspoltransgaz about nullifying natural gas supplies to Transnistria. This automatically triggered alternative licensing provisions," the Transnistrian leader noted.
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said earlier that under the country’s laws, only the joint Moldovan-Russian gas company Moldovagaz was authorized to pump gas to Transnistria. In an interview with Moldova’s PRO TV channel, he said that the authorities were probing into the contract for gas supplies to Transnistria between Moldova’s Natural Gaz D.C. and Transnistria’s Tiraspoltransgaz. He said that gas supplies to Transnistria via Natural Gaz D.C. was "Russia’s special operation" meant to paint Chisinau as the one to blame for the humanitarian crisis in Transnistria.
Earlier, Krasnoselsky asked Sandu to keep her word and refrain from hindering gas supplies to the unrecognized republic which he had managed to negotiate during his visit to Moscow.
Gas supplies to Moldova were interrupted in early January after Kiev banned Russian gas transit via its territory. Meanwhile, Chisinau refused to repay its gas debt to Russia, estimated by the Russian side at $709 million. Since unlike Moldova, Transnistria has no other gas sources, it had to cut centralized heating and hot water supplies to residential houses, halt industrial enterprises and began practicing rolling power outages. The Moldovan power plant located on the Dniester left bank has switched to using coal, with its reserves being enough to last until late January or mid-February.