The Moldovan separatist region - Transnistria - expects to receive Russian gas again to cover its energy needs, its leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said today, quoted by Reuters, bTA reports.
Tens of thousands of residents of Transnistria have been without gas and heating since January 1, when the Russian company "Gazprom" suspended gas exports to the region, citing an unpaid debt from Moldova worth $709 million, the value of which Chisinau disagrees with.
Moscow blames pro-Western Moldova and Ukraine for the suspension of gas supplies, which refused to extend a five-year gas transit contract that expired on December 31. Kiev justified its decision by saying that transit revenues finance Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"I hope that as a result of the negotiations in Moscow, gas supplies to Transnistria will be resumed in the near future for electricity generation and for our citizens," he said at a brief press conference.
"These will be gas supplies for humanitarian purposes and in the volume necessary for the population of Transnistria – for heating, power generation and industrial enterprises in the region," he added.
Russia has not commented on the issue.
Krasnoselsky said there would be further negotiations to decide on a new date for the deliveries to start and their route.
Transnistria, a small pro-Russian and mostly Russian-speaking separatist region along the Dniester River and the border with Ukraine, had been receiving about 2 billion cubic meters of Russian gas a year through Ukraine, using the fuel to heat homes and generate electricity, which it sold to the rest of Moldova.
Moldovan authorities said that despite a valid contract and the option of an alternative transit route, "Gazprom" refuses to supply gas to destabilize the government ahead of parliamentary elections this year.
The government has guaranteed alternative supplies from Europe and offered to help Transnistria buy gas, but the offer was rejected by the separatist region's leaders, who blame Moldova for the crisis.
"The Kremlin regime is holding people there hostage, mercilessly, in the cold and darkness, because it wants to bring to power (in Moldova - bel. Reuters) pro-Russian groups that will plunge our country into conflict and destabilize public order," Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recan told the media.