CHISINAU, January 31. /TASS/. The energy crisis in Transnistria has been provoked by Moldova and Ukraine’s authorities to escalate the situation in the region, the leader of Moldova’s Party of Socialists and former president of the country, Igor Dodon, said.
"It looks like what has been going on in Transnistria in recent weeks is a two-pronged effort from Chisinau and Kiev to aggravate the situation in the region. They have deliberately left Transnistria without electricity and gas to provoke an energy and societal crisis on the left bank [of the Dniester River]. They are seeking to push the region’s leadership to switch off the Cuciurgan power station (which feeds the right bank with electricity from Romania) and hence, cut off power to the entire Dniester right bank. Clearly, someone wants to see this whole situation end in violence," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
A state of emergency has been in force in Moldova and the unrecognized republic of Transnistria after Ukraine terminated Russian gas transit on January 1. Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said in earlier that the termination of supplies of Russian gas to Transnistria, where the Moldovan power plant, which is owned by Russia’s Inter RAO and which used to meet 80% of Moldova’s power demand, is located will not merely entail a dramatic rise in electricity prices but may trigger a humanitarian disaster. If the power plant is halted, Moldova will not be able to buy electricity from Romania.
Following the termination of gas transit via Ukraine, Transnistria’s authorities were forces to cut centralized heating and hot water supplies to residential houses, halt industrial enterprises and began practicing rolling power outages. The Moldovan power has switched to using coal, with its reserves being enough to last until mid-February. After the Moldovan power plant suspended supplies to Moldova, Chisinau was forced to buy more expensive electricity from Romania and raise tariffs, stirring public outcry and severe criticism from the opposition.