Gagauzia head says Moldovan authorities shift blame for energy crisis on Russia
The Moldovan authorities are trying to shift the responsibility for the energy crisis in the country to Russia. This was stated by the head of the Gagauz autonomy, Eugenia Gutsul, on January 17.
"It is very easy not to bear responsibility and shift the responsibility to others. At the time when there was an opportunity to agree with the Russian Federation that there would be no energy crisis, that there would really be a dialog and some decisions would be made, our government did what? They were engaged in election campaigning," she said on the air of GRT TV channel.
Gutsul added that the Moldovan authorities, despite the problem, did not try to negotiate with Russia over the continuation of gas supplies. Instead, according to the head of Gagauzia, they were "handing out newspapers" on the streets.
She also expressed her sympathy for the residents of Transnistria, who have been most affected by the gas supply cutoff. Gutsul called on representatives of the Gagauz autonomy to help Transnistria and the population living there if possible.
Earlier in the day, Gutsul said that the Gagauz autonomy was strongly affected by the energy crisis in Moldova. She noted that when the budget for 2025 was adopted, the tariffs were different. At the current moment they have "increased many times". Among other things, Gutsul pointed out that representatives of the ruling party are likely to increase them further.
Before that, on January 13, former Moldovan Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Future of Moldova party Vasily Tarlev said that the current government was to blame for the energy crisis inside the country and that the energy sector had been destabilized artificially.
On December 31, 2024, Moldovan economist Serghei Ungureanu told Izvestia that Moldova has a difficult situation in the energy sector, and the purchase of electricity from Europe will hit the country's economy. He noted that Moldova has not agreed to continue gas transit through Ukraine, which means that Transnistria will not receive it and will not be able to produce enough cheap electricity.
On January 1, centralized heating was cut off in Transnistria after Gazprom stopped supplying Russian gas through Ukraine. Gas stopped flowing also to Moldova because of the country's unpaid debts. For his part, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean did not recognize the debt and threatened to sue.
On the same day, the president of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldovan Republic (TMR), Vadim Krasnoselsky, said that Moldova was unreasonably shifting its debt to Gazprom to Transnistria.
