The authorities of unrecognized Transnistria have refused EU energy assistance and a grant worth €60 million.
This was reported by Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recan.
He noted that in the medium term, the EUʼs offer of €60 million was a solution that could free the Transnistrian region from blackmail and energy instability.
"Tiraspol refused this decision. Russia does not allow them to accept European aid, fearing losing control over the region. The main condition for granting the grant was a gradual increase in consumer tariffs — Tiraspol refused. As a result, they cannot receive money from the €60 million in aid from the EU," Rechan wrote.
At the same time, he stressed that the region will not be left without gas. It will be supplied by the Hungarian company MET Gas and Energy Marketing AG, a natural gas trader on the European market. The gas will be paid for by the Dubai-based company JNX General Trading LLC.
MET Gas and Energy Marketing AG will supply gas to the border with Moldova under a signed contract with “Moldovagaz”. Tiraspol will pay in advance the costs of gas transit from the border with Moldova to Transnistria based on an agreement between “Moldovagaz” and “Tiraspolgaz”.
Recan assured that the Moldovan authorities will not impede the transit of this gas, but in return, Tiraspol must release political prisoners, resolve the problems of the lyceum in Rybnitsa, keep Moldovan public television in the broadcasting network, and remove the checkpoints installed in 2022.
Energy crisis in Moldova
From January 1, 2025, Ukraine stopped the transit of Russian gas, which several EU states and the unrecognized Transnistria continued to receive.
At the same time, Moldova did not agree to Russiaʼs demands to continue supplying gas to Transnistria via an alternative route through the Balkans. Therefore, on December 28, 2024, “Gazprom” officially announced that it would stop supplying gas to Transnistria from January due to "non-fulfillment of payment obligations".
In Transnistria, the supply of heat and hot water to residential buildings has been cut off. In high-rise buildings, gas is available only for cooking. It is supplied from reserves in the gas pipeline system, but only until the pressure in the network drops to a critical level. Industrial enterprises have suspended work, and since January 3, fanned power outages have been introduced.
At first, the Transnistrian Republic refused to help Moldova purchase gas on European markets, waiting for the Russian “Gazprom” to resume supplies.
On January 15, the leader of unrecognized Transnistria Vadim Krasnoselsky reported that Russia would restore gas supplies to unrecognized Transnistria — doing so in the form of humanitarian and technical assistance. He then said that Russia would provide a loan for this.
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