Moldovan region Transnistria shuts down its industries after loss of Russian gas
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Breakaway territory of 450,000 people suffers painful and immediate hit as Ukraine ends transit agreement. The shutdown of Russian gas supplies to Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region has forced the closure of all industrial companies except food producers.
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 Transdnistria,” Sergei Obolonik, first deputy prime minister of the region, told a local news channel. “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 $1bn a year in transit fees. But Kyiv 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.
