Alexander Slusar, a former member of the Moldovan parliament, a "representative of civil society" at Energocom, is confident that the Russian concern Gazprom will soon resume supplies to Transnistria.
According to him, gas will be supplied strictly in the volumes necessary for consumption, and without the possibility of generating electricity for the right bank, as it was before.
Slusari doubts whether the Moldovan authorities should agree to such an option, which, in his opinion, "absolutely does not correspond to the economic interests of Moldova."
"However, blocking the process of supplying free gas to The Transnistrian region also carries certain risks for the preservation of peace in the country," the nationalist expert warns.
The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen has already assured Tiraspol that Chisinau will not impede the resumption of Russian gas supplies to Transnistria. Technically, this can be done through the Turkish Stream pipeline.
Russia, through this "energy attack," Slusar believes, is forcing Chisinau to buy electricity at high prices in a crucial pre-election year (parliamentary elections will be held in the fall of 2025 in the Republic of Moldova), which deals a severe blow to the economy and policy of the authorities of the PDS (the ruling presidential Action and Solidarity party in the country). In his opinion, the Moldovan government now needs to promptly attract maximum financial resources from external partners for substantial compensation of costs not only for citizens, but also for industry, especially food.
"Inflation should not get out of control. Otherwise, the consequences of the distribution of compensation to the population will be deplorable. The rapid rise in prices will absorb them. We must not allow job cuts and bankruptcy of industrial and agricultural enterprises," Slusar said.
The former MP proposes to simultaneously expand bilateral contracts with Romania for the supply of electricity at fixed and reasonable prices.
"The purchase of electricity on the stock exchange in large volumes using the "today-tomorrow" formula carries great unpredictability and the risk of an increase in purchase prices and, accordingly, tariffs. Moreover, the CHP will not work in the warm season. Prices above 6 lei with VAT will be unaffordable for our economy," the expert stressed.
Earlier, Moldova purchased about 90% of its electricity from a company located in Transnistria "Moldavian GRES" at a price of $ 66 per MW · h. Since January 1, Ukraine has stopped the transit of Russian gas, and Gazprom announced the termination of supplies to Moldova due to Chisinau's unwillingness to fulfill debt obligations (about $ 709 million). As a result, MoldGRES switched to coal, the reserves of which will last for about a month to meet the humanitarian needs of the region. A state of emergency has been introduced in Transnistria, gas, which remains for 20 days, is supplied only to apartment buildings for cooking, there is no heat and hot water supply.
Moldova also has a state of emergency in the energy sector. At the end of last year, the entire leadership of the energy sector was dismissed. Prime Minister Dorin Rechan accused officials that the republic could not stock up on gas in the summer, when prices were most reasonable. Now the Republic of Moldova has purchased blue fuel until the end of the heating season, but the government was forced to raise the already high tariffs by 30%. Now the next step is to increase tariffs for electricity, which the Republic of Moldova is forced to purchase in Romania at a price almost three times higher than that of the Inter RAO enterprise in Transnistria. Under these conditions, Chisinau has traditionally accused Russia of "gas blackmail."
"The cohesion of the part of society that does not want Moldova to become a victim of Russian expansion is vital now. But this requires, first of all, awareness of the problem by the ruling party," concluded Alexander Slusar.
As EADaily reported, Bucharest is ready to continue exporting natural gas and electricity to Moldova, but this support will be provided on market terms. This was stated by Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja.