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. (CNN) — In the capital of Transnistria, a self-declared microstate ...

The crisis prompted a question: will the breakaway region, occupied by Russia since 1992, survive without Russian gas? Free-of-charge Russian gas had been the backbone of Transnistria's economy and ensured the preservation of the breakaway region and its de facto independence from Moldova.

Russia plans to resume natural gas flows to Moldova’s pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria amid an energy crisis, according to Vadim Krasnoselsky, leader of the self-proclaimed republic.

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.

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,