By The Moscow Times | Created at 2025-01-06 13:25:23 | Updated at 2025-01-07 23:16:59
1 day ago
The breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria could face a complete electricity blackout after Russia's decision to cut gas supplies pushed the power grid to the brink, the region's leader said on Monday.
The tiny breakaway republic bordering Ukraine has been unable to provide heating and hot water to its residents since Jan. 1, when Moscow cut off gas supplies to Moldova over a financial dispute.
With temperatures dropping below 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), residents have been forced to burn firewood or rely on plug-in electric heaters.
But that surge in demand for electricity has heaped pressure onto the Soviet-era grid, which could soon buckle under the load, the region's leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said in a video address to locals.
"We are using one-third more of the power that is produced," he said.
"If this situation continues, the [power] station may go into emergency mode. There could be some kind of technological malfunction and even a fire."
"Then we will be left without any electricity at all, then a very bad scenario will arrive," he said in a televised meeting with officials published on his Telegram channel.
The area relied on Russian gas supplies to provide heating and hot water to the region of around 400,000.
But Moscow cut supplies on Jan. 1 over a debt dispute with the Moldovan government.
Its major power plant has switched to using coal to generate power, supplies of which will last until mid-February, officials say.
Krasnoselsky previously vowed the region would cope with the "unprecedented energy crisis."
Free firewood has been made available, while residents are being encouraged to dress warmly, gather family members into a single room and seal doors and windows with curtains and blankets.
Russian gas supplies via Ukraine would have been cut on Jan. 1 anyway as Ukraine ended a major transit deal, but Chisinau said Russia could provide gas through an alternative route that runs across the Black Sea to Turkey and then up through the Balkans.
Moscow-backed Krasnoselsky said Monday that Russia was not to blame for the energy crisis, instead criticizing Moldova for not paying the disputed debt.
Factories have been shuttered, schools closed and rolling blackouts introduced.
Transnistria, internationally recognized as part of Moldova, proclaimed independence at the end of the Soviet Union and has been reliant on Moscow's financial support ever since. Moscow has around 1,500 troops stationed there.
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