Russia’s Gazprom ends deliveries to Moldova after Ukraine transit ban

The Russian gas company Gazprom on Saturday said it will no longer supply natural gas to Moldova in the new year, blaming the country’s alleged debts.

Gazprom said the country’s gas company Moldovagaz “regularly fails to fulfil its payment obligations under the existing contract, which constitutes a material breach of the terms.”

The Moldovan government has denied it owes Gazprom a debt of $790 million.

The announcement by Gazprom comes weeks after Ukraine said it would no longer allow the transit of Russian gas through its territory after the current agreement expires at the end of the year.

This caused the Moldovan government to impose a state of emergency, in force for 60 days.

The former Soviet republic, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas, which flows through pipelines lying in Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region in the east of the country.

The Transnistrian leadership in Tiraspol declared a state of emergency earlier this month in response to the pending halt to deliveries.

An added problem for Moldova is that most of its electricity is generated by gas, via a power station in Transnistria, and a planned connection to the European grid via a high-voltage line to Romania is not yet in place.

There is a smaller pipeline between Romania and Moldova running under the Prut river that can supply 1 million cubic metres daily. Moldova in addition makes use of Romanian gas storage facilities as an emergency buffer.