Moldova says end of Russian gas for Transdniestria 'very realistic scenario'
By Alexander Tanas
CHISINAU, Nov 27 (Reuters) -The termination of Russian gas supplies to Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria after Jan. 1, 2025 is a "very realistic" scenario, energy minister Victor Parlicov said on Wednesday after talks with Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM.
Parliсov held talks with the head of Gazprom on Monday to discuss alternative routes to supply Transdniestria if transit through Ukraine stops.
The current gas transit agreement between Ukraine and Russia ends on Dec. 31 and Ukraine has said it will not extend it. The unrecognised,Russian-backed Transdniestria region depends heavily on Russian natural gas supplied via Ukraine.
Parliсov told a news briefing in Chisinau that Gazprom was ready to supply gas to Transdniestria via the current route, but that it was up to Moldova and Ukraine to agree on transit.
"From discussions with my Ukrainian colleagues, I understand that if there is a decision to continue transit, it may be taken at the last moment," Parlicov said.
Moldova receives about 2 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year from Russia through Ukraine and since 2022, Tiraspol and Chisinau have agreed that all Russian gas received by Moldova will go to Transdniestria.
Transdniestria has a large power plant fuelled by Russian gas and Chisinau, in turn, buys electricity from Tiraspol at a relatively low fixed price.
ALTERNATIVE ROUTE
Moldova has said that if Ukraine ends the transit of Russian gas an alternative for Transdniestria could be gas supplied by the TurkStream pipeline to Turkey and then through Bulgaria and Romania.
However, Parlicov said that Gazprom at the talks linked continued deliveries via alternative routes to its demands that Chisinau pay a debt on past gas supplies to Moldova, which according to Russian calculations stand at $709 million.
Moldova has said its debt is $8.6 million.
"We believe that it's incorrect to link the debt problems with supplies (to Transdniestria)," Parliсov said.
He said that supply via both Ukraine and alternative routes could stop on January 1 and then Chisinau would need international support to pay for gas from other sources.
Gazprom has not yet commented on the meeting with Moldova's minister.
Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Pavel Polityuk; editing by Jason Neely
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