Transdniestria rejects EU aid for gas purchases, Moldova says (updated)
10/02/2025 09:32
(Adds quote in paragraph 3, details in paragraph 4-9)
CHISINAU, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Moldova's pro-Russian
breakaway Transdniestria region has rejected a European Union
offer of 60 million euros to fund gas purchases because of
concern Moscow would lose control of the territory, Moldova's
government said on Monday.
"Russia does not allow them to accept European aid for fear
of losing control over the region," Moldova's Prime Minister
Dorin Recean said on Facebook. He said the main excuse given for
rejecting the EU offer was a condition that energy prices for
consumers gradually be raised.
Residents of Transdniestria, a sliver of territory run
by pro-Russian separatists along Moldova's border with Ukraine,
have been left with no heat or power since Jan. 1, when
shipments of Russian natural gas were halted.
Gas supplies
resumed
in early February thanks to a 30 million euro grant from
the EU which has been extended to February 10.
The EU has offered another 60 million euros worth of energy
for Transdniestria, conditional on steps taken "on fundamental
freedoms and human rights". The region's authorities have not
commented on the offer.
The territory, which broke free from Moldova's control
in a short war in the 1990s, had benefited for decades from
cheap Russian gas, which it used to heat homes and produce
electricity sold to the rest of Moldova. Moscow has thousands of
troops stationed there.
The EU conditions for extending gas supplies include
increasing the prices
charged in the region for heavily subsidised power, water
and heat, Moldova's Prime Minister Dorin Recean has said.
Russia blames Moldova and Ukraine for the energy crisis
in Transdniestria, while Moldova blames Moscow. Gazprom
suspended gas exports to Transdniestria on Jan. 1, citing an
unpaid Moldovan debt of $709 million that Chisinau does not
recognise as valid.
At the same time, an agreement with Ukraine on the
transport of Russian gas over Ukrainian territory expired and
was not renewed by Kyiv. Moldova accuses Gazprom of violating a
longstanding contract by refusing to send the gas via
alternative routes. GAZP.MM
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Anastasiia Malenko
Editing by Gareth Jones and Peter Graff)
((Anastasiia.Malenko@thomsonreuters.com;))