Moldova on Friday declared a nationwide state of emergency for 60 days, expecting Russian pipeline gas supply to cease from January 1, 2025.
The Parliament of the country, which currently receives Russian gas via Ukraine, approved overnight a proposal from Prime Minister Dorin Recean to declare a state of emergency, which begins on December 16.
Moldova has been trying to fend off Russian influence in the breakaway Transdniestria region, a narrow strip of land between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border, which isn’t recognized by the international community.
But since 2022, Transdniestria and the central government of Moldova have agreed that all natural gas sent by Russian giant Gazprom to Moldova flows to Transdniestria.
The vote to declare a state of emergency is a means to end the “gas blackmail” from Russia, according to Moldova’s PM Recean.
“This must be the last winter in the history of the country, in which we can be threatened with energy supply cutoff,” the prime minister added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants to leave the population of Transdniestria without gas and electricity and hold them hostage. Moscow is doing this to destabilize the situation in Moldova,” Reuters quoted Recean as saying.
At the end of last month, Moldova and Gazprom’s chief executive Alexei Miller discussed alternative routes for natural gas supply to the Transdniestrian region, if transit through Ukraine is disrupted.
Gazprom, however, has said that deliveries via alternative routes to Moldova would be linked to Moldova paying its outstanding debts for past supplies. This debt is around $709 million, Russia claims.
Meanwhile, Russian pipeline natural gas supply to Europe via Ukraine has remained stable, three weeks before the deal for transiting the gas via Ukrainian territory expires on December 31.
The volumes Gazprom has been sending to Europe via Ukraine have been more or less flat since the Russian firm cut off supply to Austria’s OMV in the middle of November.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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Publish date : 2024-12-13 06:30:00
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