Lungu commented on stopping gas transit through Ukraine to Moldova

The leader of the Moldovan opposition Chance party, Aleksey Lungu, has called Ukraine's behavior inexplicable, commenting on the stoppage of gas transit through its territory to Moldova. He told Izvestia in an interview on December 30.

"It is very difficult to comment on or even explain Ukraine's behavior in banning gas transit. <...> We Moldovans have such a saying - 'let the neighbor's goat die', that is, if my situation is bad, let it be bad for everyone else," the politician said.

Lungu emphasized that Moldova will suffer a lot because of Ukraine's decision, made on the principle "to spite everyone", because of the expensive, but still the same, Russian gas. In addition, the Chance leader said that a number of countries already have problems because of electricity prices, and after this transit, the situation will become even worse.

The politician explained that the problem is not only the gas prices, but also the fact that it will cause a chain reaction: gas will become more expensive - light will become more expensive - foodstuffs will become more expensive, even such as bread at social cost.

According to Lungu, one positive aspect of Moldova's difficult energy situation is that the Moldovan authorities told "once in their life" the truth by declaring a humanitarian crisis.

Thus, Lungu said that Moldova is heading for an economic crisis. In his opinion, it is a consequence of the collision of people's poverty and expensive energy resources.

"I can't express myself because you can't on your TV channel, but I would use another word, where Moldova is rolling or where it is going. But we are definitely not going to the European Union," the politician said.

Lungu said that the issues arising from the 300-million-dollar loan to Moldova are still a commercial secret. For instance, it is not clear how much money from this sum was used to pay for gas and whether the resource was supplied at all.

Moldova is heading towards another energy crisis, and the inaction or, on the contrary, the decisions taken by the Moldovan authorities in this whole situation is a mockery of the people, the oppositionist summarized.

Gas for that: Moldavia expects protests after transit through Ukraine is cut off

With whom Chisinau will have to negotiate now

Before that, on December 28, Andrei Safonov, a deputy of the Supreme Council of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldovan Republic (TMR), said that Transnistria accused Moldova of being fully responsible for the gas crisis.

On the same day in December, the press service of Gazprom said that from January 1 it would stop supplies to Moldova because of the country's failure to repay its debts. In turn, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean did not recognize the debt and threatened to sue.

Earlier, on December 23, it was reported that protests may start in Moldova because of the difficult energy situation in the republic due to the termination of gas transit through Ukraine.

Since December 1, 2024, the price of gas in Moldova has increased by 27.5%.

Since December 16, a state of emergency regime has been in effect in Moldova due to the possible termination of Russian gas transit through Ukraine. On 6 December, a state of emergency was also introduced in Transnistria due to the situation in the energy sector.