Moldovans grapple with outages as energy crisis grips pro-Russia region

COPANCA, Moldova -- Every time planned electrical outages are imposed on his village in southern Moldova, 73-year-old retiree Vasili Donici passes the time solving crosswords and puzzles in a room he illuminates using a small gas lamp.

“It’s a bit hard without electricity,” said the former deputy school director who has stockpiled firewood to ensure he can use his wood burning stove in the room he shares with his wife to stay warm. “There’s still gas … but it will end soon.”

The village of Copanca is situated just several kilometers across the de facto border from Moldova’s separatist pro-Russian Transnistria region, where hundreds of thousands of people have been left without heating and hot water after Russia halted gas supplies to the region on Jan. 1, over an alleged $709 million debt for past supplies to Moldova.

The decision by Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom, which came into effect a day after a gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expired, halted gas supplies to Transnistria’s gas-operated Kuciurgan power plant, the country’s largest, which provided a significant portion of Moldova’s electricity.

Copanca, like over a dozen other towns or villages administered by Moldovan authorities in the capital Chisinau but situated close to Transnistria, remains interconnected to the separatist region’s Soviet-era energy infrastructure leaving them vulnerable amid the energy crisis.

Planned daily electrical outages throughout Transnistria — which includes Copanca — are currently scheduled for four hours twice a day. While the Kuciurgan power plant transitioned to coal and has led to some unexpected outages, some residual gas remained in the pipes.

“It’s hard to get by with the electricity and gas shortages,” said Donici. “Yesterday, we were without power for eight hours. Everyone is scratching their heads, figuring out what to do, so they don’t freeze.”

Citing findings by British and Norwegian audit firms, Moldova’s pro-Western government claims its debt stands close to $8.6 million, and has accused Moscow of weaponizing energy to destabilize the European Union candidate country. Russia has denied it is meddling in Moldova.

Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean this week accused Russia of artificially creating an energy crisis to cause “instability in the region” and “to influence the results of the parliamentary elections” that Moldova will hold later in 2025.

“What they want to achieve is to have a pro-Russian government in Moldova that would ultimately allow for the consolidation of the military capacity of Russia in the Transnistrian region, and correspondingly to use this leverage over Ukraine,” Recean told journalists in a closed call with other senior officials on Monday.

Transnistria — which broke away after a short war in 1992 and is not recognized by most countries — declared a state of emergency last month as the gas crisis loomed. A large majority of Transnistria’s roughly 350,000 people speak Russian as their first language and some 200,000 are Russian citizens. Russia also bases about 1,500 troops in a so-called frozen conflict zone as “peacekeepers.”

Moldova has repeatedly claimed Russia is conducting a sprawling “hybrid war” against it by meddling in elections, funding anti-government protests and running vast disinformation campaigns to try to topple the government and derail the country’s EU aspirations.

Last month, Moldova’s parliament also voted to impose a state of emergency in the energy sector, as the crisis threatened to leave the former Soviet republic without sufficient energy this winter, and fears that the situation could trigger a humanitarian crisis in Transnistria, where temperatures often drop to subzero degrees Celsius.

The looming crisis also prompted Chisinau to implement a series of energy-saving measures beginning Jan. 1, which include reducing lighting in public and commercial buildings by at least 30%, and energy-intensive businesses operating during off-peak hours.

Moldova's state energy company, Energocom, has increased electricity purchases from neighboring Romania to ensure capacity but are also more costly. Although a mild January is helping matters, energy prices have increased and the government has said it will provide help to offset bills.

EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, wrote on the social media platform X this week that Russia “continues to use gas as a weapon and once again Moldova is a target of its hybrid warfare," adding that “Thanks to EU support Moldova remains resilient and well-connected to European energy networks."

Moldova’s government this week announced plans to connect more than a dozen towns and villages under Chisinau’s control that are interconnected with energy infrastructure in Transnistria to energy networks in Moldova.

Afanasii Cutzari, the mayor of Copanca, says that so far the situation is manageable with planned electrical outages, but that if, or when, the gas runs out, "then there will be problems.”

“Where possible, people bought generators, but that’s also not a solution,” he said. “Even with a generator, someone needs to start it, a person who understands how to use it. It requires money, staff.”

Cutzari added that institutions in his village including a kindergarten, medical facilities, an ambulance, city hall and a post office would struggle if the gas ran out entirely. “It would be better if electricity and gas were always available,” he said.

Prime Minister Recean said that since the beginning of the energy crisis, his government in Chisinau has “proposed organizing procurement for purchasing gas on behalf of the Transnistrian side," but that authorities in the region’s de facto capital, Tiraspol, have refused.

“Tiraspol is not autonomous in the decisions it makes,” he said on Thursday. “This crisis is induced by the Russian Federation in order to destabilize the Republic of Moldova and to use the Republic of Moldova in Russia’s war against Ukraine.”

After visiting Copanca and other villages in a similar bind on Thursday, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said some kindergartens and schools have been provided with power generators, and that mayors can request help from Chisinau to supply firewood, wood-burning pellets, and generators.

“We communicated with them that we are doing our best to provide them alternatives that provide light, water and heat for their families,” she said, adding that Moldova is discussing “potential assistance” with external partners.

Carina Cazac, the owner of a convenience store in Copanca, said locals rushed to purchase essentials like oil and flour when the crisis hit, and that generators and oil lamps quickly sold out.

“A lot of people were stressed, and they started buying gas lamps,” she said. “It's easier in the villages because most people have wood-burning stoves … others bought generators.”

But, she added, “Prices have risen significantly, and not everyone can afford a generator."

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Associated Press writer Stephen McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.