Dodon — Sandu: Fly to Moscow or ask your friends to Kyiv on gas transit

Visit of Moldovan President Maia Sandu to Brussels for protocol meetings and photo sessions with officials of the European Commission and NATO in the context of the energy crisis in the country shows the true face and "care" of this government for its people. This was stated today, December 10, by the leader of the opposition Party of Socialists (PSRM) Igor Dodon.

"Sandu should not have flown to Brussels, and urgently go to Moscow (and it should have been done in the summer), or at least go to Kiev and agree on gas transit through Ukraine for the needs of Moldovan citizens," Dodon stressed.

The politician recalled that she had always boasted of very good relations with the current leadership of Ukraine. According to the former head of state, now is the time to use these connections to prevent a complete collapse of the Moldovan energy system, an economic and social catastrophe.

"I also consider it urgent to create a single anti-crisis headquarters with the participation of Chisinau and Tiraspol, because the problems will be common to all our citizens on both banks of the Dniester. The Government of Moldova should contact the leadership of Transnistria today and discuss the creation of such a headquarters," Igor Dodon advised.

Recall that since December 2022, Moldova has been receiving gas from two sources: it purchases the main part on the Romanian stock exchange, as well as via the traditional route through Ukraine from Gazprom. All Russian gas is redirected to Pridnestrovie, so that the MoldGRES (Inter RAO enterprise) located there could generate about 90% of the needs RM in electricity.

Chisinau admits that it would be more profitable to continue direct purchases from Gazprom, but because of "European solidarity" they were forced to abandon them. As a result, at the beginning of December, the tariff was raised again by almost 30%, and after that a rise in the price of heat and electricity is expected.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Kiev has announced its readiness to restrict Gazprom's transit to Europe from January 1, 2025. Chisinau called the consequences of this a "humanitarian catastrophe" and has already asked the Russian concern several times to develop an alternative delivery route to the region. At the same time, the authorities of the Republic of Moldova requested the assistance of the European Commission in negotiations with the Ukrainian side on the extension of transit.

As reported by EADaily, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Dorin Rechan last week dismissed the leaders of the energy sector for the fact that the country could not stock up on natural gas in the summer, when prices were much lower than now. He also asked the Moldovan parliament to introduce a state of emergency. Yesterday, the President of Pridnestrovie Vadim Krasnoselsky also signed a decree on the introduction of an economic emergency, which implies a ban on the export of energy resources.

If gas stops flowing to Pridnestrovie, MoldGRES will switch to coal, which will allow it to meet the republic's humanitarian needs for electricity within 50 days, but this will not be enough for export.