CHISINAU, January 31. /TASS/. Moldova's incumbent President Maia Sandu's administration failed to prevent the energy crisis that broke out after Ukraine decided to terminate Russian gas transit a year and a half ago, former Moldovan leader Igor Dodon said.
"Sandu keeps shouting 'Glory to Ukraine,' although reflecting her own opinion, not that of our citizens. Instead, she should have convinced her partners in Kiev not to stop the transit of Russian gas, or at least tried to do so," the leader of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova said. Even if the attempt had failed, an alternative route of gas supplies to the country bypassing Ukraine could have been developed, Dodon believes.
"We should have developed an alternative route in advance. If they [Moldova's current administration] oppose using Russian gas, we should have found the necessary volumes [of gas] in Europe for both banks of the Dniester River. We should have tried to conclude a separate agreement with the Moldovan state district power plant in Transnistria so that we would have electricity," the politician said, recalling that everyone knew about Kiev's decision to stop transit long ago. "All this could have been done, but they never seized the opportunity to prepare for the energy crisis in the year and a half," Dodon emphasized. Earlier, he said that Kiev and Chisinau provoked the energy crisis in unrecognized Transnistria in order to exacerbate the situation in the region.
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 earlier that the termination of supplies of Russian gas to Transnistria, where the Moldovan power plant, which is owned by Russia’s Inter RAO energy company and which used to meet 80% of Moldova’s power demand, is located will not only 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 forced to cut centralized heating and hot water supplies to residential houses, halt industrial enterprises, and begin implementing 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.