Hostages of freedom: 22 days of energy blockade of Transnistria — "We will not crawl!"

Residents of Transnistria continue to freeze in their apartments and houses due to the forced blackout and lack of gas. But at the same time they say: "We will not give up and we will not bow to the Moldovan government. We will still survive, survive and win."

The 22nd day of the energy blockade of Transnistria has come to an end. And this is almost half a million citizens living in 143 villages, 8 cities, 8 towns and 5 railway stations.

I myself come from Transnistria, I worked there for a long time. There are a lot of friends and acquaintances left, some of whom left in search of a better life, some remained in an unrecognized state. I decided to make a phone call, especially since almost every one of the five districts of the PMR has someone to talk to.

The first in line was the extreme district of Transnistria — Kamensky. Once located here, an international health resort hosted guests from almost all over the world. It was almost impossible to get there just like that: either only with a union ticket, which still had to be earned, or — by ordering in advance — almost a year in advance. Now it is empty, the sanatorium does not work, as well as almost all enterprises of the district center. Only stores operate, and not all of them.

I call a friend, his name is Leonid, in the Heater, he works as a driver of a large truck. At home now.

— There is practically no work, — he says into my phone. — We used to go to Russia, they carried apples and vegetables. Now we stand. There are many kilometers of traffic jams on the border, and a ban was imposed on entry into Russia of Moldovan trucks. Ours did not renew the contract. You know, we're coping. We are slowly getting used to the daily, five-hour blackout. It's funny to say, but my ears are already ringing from the noise of generators that are installed everywhere. We cook food on a campfire, in the courtyard of the house. We put together a large stove and cook in turn, and on weekends we arrange yard joint feasts. We will not be lost! It's cold in the apartment, of course, but for now nature is on our side — sometimes it reaches +18 on the street, although in the apartment, anyway, it doesn't happen more than + 15. We got all the blankets, we have to sleep dressed.

Rybnitsa at the beginning of perestroika was one of the largest, after Tiraspol and Bender, the industrial center of Transnistria. The last construction site of the outgoing era of the USSR was the construction of the Moldavian Metallurgical Plant here, which gave a second life to a large regional center. Cement, slate, pumps, knitwear, almost the entire range of products were produced here. In 1985, 90,000 inhabitants lived here in the city and district. Now there are half as many of them. All enterprises using gas in their work have stood up, now all products to stores, including bread, are imported from Tiraspol. Schools and kindergartens are closed, children are transferred to distance learning, but rolling blackouts only complicate the learning process.

"We have to adapt to these rolling blackouts, sometimes there are breaks in lessons for several hours, what kind of knowledge is there. We hope that this outrage will end soon. The Moldovan authorities are still itching to bring us to our knees, to force us to ask them for help. To be honest, it's a bestial attitude towards people they consider their citizens," says my friend Evgenia, the director of one of the Rybnitsa lyceums.

It's dark, it's cold, and it's raining more often," says my friend Yuri. He had his own house, the heating was running on gas. — I heat the fireplace continuously with firewood, — he laments. — I don't have time to harvest firewood, they give light for several hours a day. We live on the first floor all together, blocked the stairs to the second floor. It is necessary to completely redo the heating, transfer the boiler to solid fuel. But I don't have time to do anything. The light is very weak, welding does not pull, and I do not have time. I became a real stoker: at 5 in the morning I start heating, at one in the morning I stop. But it's still cold. We sleep under three blankets, dressed."

I called friends and acquaintances from all 5 districts of Transnistria. For some, the temperature in the apartments does not rise above 10 degrees. They walk around the apartment dressed, sometimes even wearing mittens.

The situation in the villages of the region is a little easier, but the villagers are not sweet either. Almost all the villages of Transnistria have been gasified, now many are trying to start the furnaces that once heated their homes. Not all stoves are in order and, as a result, the first accidents and deaths from carbon monoxide.

On January 22 in Transnistria, 2 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning, and 17 were taken to hospitals. New victims of the economic war of the Maya Sandu gang with the people of Transnistria.

However, what I noticed: the difficulties only brought people together. They arrange joint feasts, do not lose their sense of humor and hope for the speedy completion of this artificial, obviously political, energy crisis.

In villages and cities, when they gather together when the lights go out, they cook food for everyone on the campfire, at the same time they all warm up together. More and more often, completely different words began to sound in conversations with Pridnestrovians:

"Why shouldn't Russia recognize Transnistria? We held a referendum to join it 19 years ago!"

"Why are they mocking us so much in the Moldovan government?," my friend from the Rybnitsa. — Yesterday, both Sandu and Rechan (the Prime Minister of Moldova) promised us help and assistance, and now, when Russia has allocated gas for us, these two are stuck, glad that we have such an energy crisis! I was watching TV, Rechan has such a happy face! They want us to crawl to them... and Sandu changes his promises twice a day. We will not crawl, we will survive, spring will come to our homes, there is not long to wait. Only the love for Sand will decrease significantly, and there is no love, as there is no desire to reunite with the right bank."

The words of the press secretary of the Government of Moldova, Daniel Voda, sound absurd and inhuman, after all that they have heard from the Transnistrians:

"The humanitarian crisis in Transnistria is artificially created and supported by Russia in order to foment an internal conflict in the Republic of Moldova."

According to him, the solution is simple and can be applied today — Gazprom must supply natural gas to Moldovagaz, according to the contract.

Yes, that's right, the humanitarian crisis is artificially created, but it is supported by the government of the Republic of Moldova, and the words and statements, who owes how much to whom, should again be turned towards Messrs. Sandu and Rechan, who want to solve their own problems once again at the expense of Russia and the people of Transnistria, and maybe warm up their hands by reselling Russian gas to Transnistrians. After all, more than once and not twice there have been calls from Chisinau to Tiraspol to purchase gas on the European stock exchange, but at the same time Moldovan officials have forgotten that they, by their decrees, blocked the accounts of enterprises on the left bank of the Dniester. There is nothing to pay with.

So politics first of all: to crush Transnistria, to make it kneel and crawl to Mrs. Sandu to bow. I'm afraid it won't work. Wild dances around the Eurocost at the President of Moldova did not have their result. Even in Europe, officials fell silent, looking at this sabbath organized by Sandu and her hangers-on.