The Moldovan government on January 6 said it would provide natural gas to 14 localities in the Moscow-backed Transdniester breakaway region as residents there suffer through the brutal winter after Russian supplies were cut off on New Year's Day.
The settlements are those that are already connected to Moldovan networks. Moldova's Premier Energy Distribution firm said it would supply electricity to two localities that are technically connected to the western -- or government-controlled -- bank of the Dniester River.
The cutoff was the result of Ukraine’s refusal to extend a transit contract with Russian state gas giant Gazprom as Kyiv and its Western partners look to deny Moscow revenue used to fund its war in Ukraine.
Even before the January 1 cutoff, Gazprom said it was ceasing deliveries to Moldova because of a debt dispute. Russia says Moldova owes it more than more than $700 million. Chisinau puts the figure at $9 million.
Transdniester, the breakaway territory on the eastern bank of the Dniester, has Russian troops on its soil and has governed its own affairs -- with Moscow’s backing --- since a war that erupted as the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s.
Moldovan authorities on January 6 announced the summoning of a Russian diplomat following accusations over the worsening situation in Transdniester amid fears of a complete electricity blackout in the region.
SEE ALSO: Russian Gas Shutoff Pumps Up Pressure On Moldova's Pro-Western GovernmentThe Foreign Ministry in Chisinau said it “strongly refutes the dangerous disinformation spread by the embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova, which seeks to deflect responsibility for a crisis that Moscow itself has created.”
“We firmly condemn these false statements, which are aimed at dividing Moldovan society and obscuring the true origins of the energy crisis [in Transdniester],” it said on its website.
Tens of thousands already are without gas for heating in the separatist enclave, which is experiencing freezing temperatures. People have been forced to burn wood or rely on plug-in electric heaters for warmth.