Industry shuts in Moldova's breakaway region as Russian gas supplies cutoff

The cutting of Russian gas supplies to Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region has forced the closure of all industrial companies except food producers, an official said.

The mainly Russian-speaking territory of about 450,000 people, which split from Moldova in the 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed, has suffered a painful and immediate hit from Wednesday's cut-off of Russian gas supplies to central and eastern Europe via Ukraine.

"All industrial enterprises are idle, with the exception of those engaged in food production - that is, directly ensuring food security for Transnistria," Sergei Obolonik, first deputy prime minister of the region, told a local news channel on Thursday.

"It is too early to judge how the situation will develop... The problem is so extensive that if it is not resolved for a long time, we will already have irreversible changes - that is, enterprises will lose their ability to start up."

Ukraine had allowed Russia to keep pumping gas across its territory despite nearly three years of war, and was earning up to $1 billion a year in transit fees. But Kiev refused to renew a five-year deal that expired on Wednesday.

European gas buyers such as Slovakia and Austria had prepared for the cut-off by securing alternative supplies. But Transnistria - despite its ties to Moscow and the presence of 1,500 Russian troops there - has been crippled.

Keeping warm

The local energy company cut heating and hot water to households on Wednesday, urging families to keep warm by gathering in a single room, covering windows with curtains or blankets and using electric heaters.

Transnistria's leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said the region had gas reserves that could likely last for 10 days of limited usage in its northern parts and twice as long in the south.

He said the main power plant had switched from gas to coal and should be able to supply electricity to residents in January and February.

Russia had been pumping about 2 billion cubic metres of gas per year to Transnistria - including the power plant which also provided energy for the whole of Moldova, a country of 2.5 million people that wants to join the European Union.

Moldova has a long history of gas payment disputes and tense relations with Russia. The ex-Soviet republic is trying to cut energy consumption by at least a third and import more than 60 percent of its needs from neighbouring Romania.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the end of Russian gas transit as "one of Moscow's biggest defeats" and urged the United States to supply more gas to Europe.

Since Moscow's launching a military campaign in Ukraine, Europe has slashed its dependence on Russian energy and increased imports from other sources including piped gas from Norway and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US and Qatar.

In a statement on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the loss of Russian gas was hurting Europe economically, and the US was the beneficiary.

"Responsibility for the cessation of Russian gas supplies lies entirely with the United States, the puppet Kiev regime, as well as the authorities of European states that sacrificed the wellbeing of their citizens for the sake of providing financial support for the American economy," she said.