This separatist sliver of Moldova will run out of energy in three weeks, the head of its Russia-backed government has said. Once proud, go-it-alone and richer than their neighbors in Moldova ...

The leader of Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria has travelled to Moscow for talks to resolve an energy crisis following the suspension of Russian gas deliveries, Transdniestria's news agency reported on Tuesday.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia was ready to provide gas to Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region, but needed logistical support from Moldova to make that happen. Vadim Krasnoselsky, the leader of the separatist enclave supported by Moscow,

This separatist sliver of Moldova will run out of energy in three weeks, the head of its Russia-backed government has said. Once proud, go-it-alone and richer than their neighbors in Moldova proper, Transnistrians are now burning wood to keep warm through ...

Russia has long used its plentiful energy resources as a tool to exert control over the region, where independence from Russian energy is tied to political sovereignty.

Every time planned electrical outages are imposed on his village in southern Moldova, 73-year-old retiree Vasili Donici passes the time by solving crosswords and puzzles in a room he illuminates using a small gas lamp.

Moldova's pro-European central government renewed its criticism of Russia, saying it caused the energy crisis and now wants to portray itself as the power that was coming to the separatist region's rescue.

The energy crisis in Transnistria is being used as a tool of Russian blackmail against Moldova, according to Center for Eastern Studies expert Kamil Całus. "Moscow is leveraging the situation for propaganda purposes and to influence Moldovan voters,

The move was connected with, but not required by, the expiration at the end of 2024 of Russia’s contract with Ukraine for transit of natural gas to Europe. The looming energy crisis is likely to have a strong negative effect on Moldova’s ruling pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) in parliamentary elections due in the second half of 2025.

But Transnistria, a tiny sliver of territory built on unswerving loyalty to Russia, faces an existential crisis. Dorin Recean, the prime minister of Moldova, which has long demanded that the ...

"Russian propaganda tries to create a story in which Moldova becomes a ‘problematic actor,’ although the government has proposed clear solutions to avoid the crisis," Moldovan government spokesperson Daniel Voda said on Jan.