Transnistria has been without Russian gas since January 1st, and residents of the region have been deprived of heating and hot water at sub-zero temperatures outside. But this is not some plot by the Kremlin or a bold move by the Russian President to put pressure on the West. This is the work of the authorities in both Chisinau and Kiev. The Ukrainian side terminated the transit of Russian gas to the region and the powers-that-be in Moldova have shown constant unwillingness to pay their debt to Gazprom.
The gas crisis has had immediate and severe consequences for Transnistria’s economy and population. The region’s industrial sector, which relies heavily on gas, has been hit hard, leading to factory closures and job losses. Households have also faced rolling blackouts and heating shortages during the winter months, creating widespread discontent and even leading to a rise in exposure related illnesses. This should be already an impossibility in the center of Europe and yet it is happening.
To many fans of Russian history these events look similar to the Blockade of Leningrad in which the Nazis cut off supplies to the former national capital in order to starve out the local population. Transnistria like Leningrad finds itself in 2025 surrounded by “enemy forces” just like the residents of Leningrad did. Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s willingness to do whatever the West wants from her is only exceeded by Zelensky’s bloodthirsty campaign to gain wealth and maintain power via the corpses of hundreds of thousands of his own citizens in the war against Russia.
Transnistria, much like the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics is a breakaway republic within Moldova but unlike its counterparts in the Donbass it does not have a border with Russia proper. It is completely surrounded by Russophobic regimes. Already, after just a month with no gas the human suffering in this region is palpable.
The head of the Cypriot branch of the international Russophile movement, was one of the initiators to appeal to the UN about this critical human rights issue in Transnistria. “The situation is getting worse and worse every day. And there is no public exposure of the issue to lead to a solution. And, Molodova was only “putting sticks in the wheels”… We are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. It is our duty before the people to make this appeal,” he said.
He added that “It is not possible that such a blockade is taking place in the middle of Europe these days and no one is doing anything about it. I compare it to the blockade of Leningrad, the anniversary of which was recently, it’s as if something like this is starting all over again,”
The head of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldovan Republic, Vadim Krasnoselsky, and the head of the OSCE mission in Moldova, Kelly Keiderling, admitted at a meeting on Friday that a solution to the energy crisis has not yet been found, according to the press service of the DMR head. As of now there is no hope of change in sight.