By Alexander Tanas
CHISINAU (Reuters) -The European Union will provide 30 million euros ($31.5 million) to purchase and transport natural gas to Moldova’s breakaway region of Transdniestria, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on Monday.
The self-styled president of the pro-Russian separatist region, gripped since the New Year by power and wintertime heating cuts, expressed optimism about the crisis and predicted gas would flow to his region by the end of the week.
Tens of thousands of people in Transdniestria have been without gas or winter heating since Jan. 1, when Russia’s Gazprom suspended gas exports to the region, citing an unpaid Moldovan debt of $709 million that Chisinau does not recognise as valid.
“The EU is immediately providing financial assistance in the amount of 30 million euros for the purchase of the necessary amount of natural gas,” Recean told a news conference.
Recean said Moldova had approved the transfer of an additional 3 million cubic metres of gas to Transdniestria. The gas has also been used to run a thermal plant in the region that provides power for government-held areas of Moldova.
Recean told reporters that Hungarian company MOL intended to sign a contract with Moldovagaz to supply gas to Transdniestria.
The announcement comes after Transdniestrian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said on Friday that gas reserves would be exhausted within days and urged the central government to end “artificial delays” and provide new supplies.
On Monday, Krasnoselsky told Russian military television channel Zvezda that he held “a careful degree of optimism for a positive development of the situation”.
“As of today, talks are going on. The supplier will be European. Russia is providing us with credits,” he said.
Local gas distributor Tiraspoltransgaz, he said, would use the credits to pay for gas to be delivered to the region.
“If things go well, the gas should be here by the end of the week if there is no purely physical resistance,” he said.
Daniel Voda, press secretary of the central Moldovan government, said it would produce and supply power to government-held areas of Moldova free of charge from Feb. 1 to 10 as part of the EU agreement to provide 30 million euros in assistance.
Writing on Telegram, Voda said that would reduce electricity prices in Moldova, which have risen sharply since the thermal plant in the separatist region halted supplies. Moldova has been buying power from next-door Romania with markups of 30% to 35%.
Moscow blames the suspension of gas supplies on pro-Western Moldova and Ukraine, which refused to extend a five-year gas transit deal that expired on Dec. 31, on the grounds that the proceeds help fund Russia’s invasion.
“In parallel, the Moldovan government and the EU are working on a two-year aid package to strengthen the energy resilience of the entire country,” Recean said.
($1 = 0.9515 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas.Editing by Gareth Jones, Mark Potter, Ron Popeski and Bill Berkrot)
