Breakaway Transnistria Warns of Electricity Collapse

The breakaway Moldova region of Transnistria could face a complete electricity blackout after Russia's decision to cut gas supplies pushed the power grid to the brink, the region's leader said on Monday.

The tiny separatist republic bordering Ukraine has been unable to provide heating and hot water to residents since Jan. 1, when Moscow cut off gas supplies to Moldova over a financial dispute.

With temperatures hitting freezing, people have been forced to burn wood or rely on plug-in electric heaters.

The resulting surge in demand for electricity has heaped pressure onto the Soviet-era grid, which could soon buckle, the region's leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said in a video address.

He said the region was using a third more power than it normally produces and warned of a "technological malfunction" or "fire" at the region's main power station.

"Then we will be left without any electricity at all, then a very bad scenario will arrive," he said in televised remarks published on his Telegram channel.

Moscow cut gas supplies — used to provide heating and hot water — to the region of some 400,000 people on Jan. 1 over a debt dispute with the Moldovan government.

Russia's Embassy in Moldova on Monday denied accusations Moscow had "abandoned" the breakaway region and accused Moldova and Ukraine of trying to "undermine the trust of Transnistrians in Moscow."

It said the financial dispute with Moldova was the main cause of the crisis, but that Ukraine had exacerbated the situation by ending a gas transit deal on Jan. 1.

Moscow-backed Krasnoselsky has also blamed the Moldovan government.

The government suggested last year that Russia could have provided gas through an alternative route.

Transnistria's major power plant has switched to using coal, supplies of which will last until mid-February, state media reported last week.

The station used to supply the rest of Moldova but cut transmissions at the start of the year.

Factories have been shuttered across Transnistria, schools closed and rolling blackouts introduced.

Free firewood has been made available, while residents are being encouraged to dress warmly, gather family members into a single room and seal doors and windows with curtains and blankets.

Moldova has been importing electricity from Romania and had already stopped using Russian gas.

Internationally recognized as part of Moldova, Transnistria declared independence at the end of the Soviet Union and has been reliant on Moscow's financial support ever since. Russia has around 1,500 troops stationed there.