Parliament of Moldova voted to introduce a state of emergency in the country.
This was reported by URA-Inform with reference to Reuters.
It is reported that it will be in effect for 60 days, starting on December 16. The publication recalls that Moldova receives Russian gas via Ukraine, which does not intend to extend the current transit contract with Gazprom.
Its term expires on December 31. This poses a threat to Moldova. In particular, since 2022, the unrecognized “Transnistria” and the Moldovan government have agreed that all Russian gas received by the state will go to the unrecognized region.
Since gas transit is now in question, the government has stated that refusing to supply gas to Transnistria “will lead to a humanitarian crisis and also create risks for the stability of Moldova's electricity sector.”
It is worth recalling that there is a power plant in Transnistria that runs on Russian gas. It is the most important support for this region, and also provides most of the electricity for the areas that are directly controlled by Moldova.
Accordingly, both sides are dependent on each other. The state of emergency allows the government to quickly react and limit energy exports. Prime Minister Dorin Recean called on MPs to make such a decision.
According to him, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “wants to leave the population of Transnistria without gas and electricity and hold them hostage.” Moscow is doing this to destabilize the situation in Moldova.
Therefore, he called on the parliament to approve the state of emergency so that “this winter will be the last in the history of the country when we can be subjected to energy blackmail.” Rechan explained that the issue of transit through Ukraine is an “artificial problem” since Russian gas can be transported via other routes.
The Russian Federation also made a new decision on nuclear weapons: Putin made an official statement.
