Moldova residents caught in the middle of gas fight

By AFP/Ani SANDU

Since Russia stopped delivering gas to Moldova, Valera Alexandru Sava only heats the ground floor of his two-storey house and often wears a coat and hat inside.

But like other villagers in Cocieri, he does not want more expensive energy from Europe and is eager for Moscow to turn the taps back on.

While Cocieri is under the control of Chisinau, it is located just inside Transnistria, a slither of separatist territory between the Dniester river and the eastern border with Ukraine, and where Russian troops are stationed.

While the rest of the country weaned itself off Russian gas after Moscow invaded Ukraine, state giant Gazprom continued to provide energy to its ally Transnistria.

But at the beginning of the year, Gazprom stopped deliveries to Transnistria due to a financial dispute with Chisinau.

Moldova's pro-European President Maia Sandu has denounced the halt in supply as a fresh attempt by Moscow to destabilise the country of 2.6 million ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for this autumn.

'Difficult and expensive'

Sava, a 61-year-old army veteran, uses an old stove for heating and lights it before his wife, an educator at the local play school, arrives home.

"You can't manage without a stove," he told AFP.

Around 900 homes in Cocieri do not have enough wood for heating during the winter, according to local authorities.

Like Cocieri, around a dozen other Moldovan municipalities are directly connected to Transnistria's grid and, like the rest of the separatist enclave, are suffering from energy shortages.

On Monday, Transnistria said it was ready to buy gas from Moldova, but Sava fears the increased costs.

His daughter, who lives in the capital Chisinau, pays seven times more than him for the non-Russian gas she receives in her a small apartment, he said.

Oleg Serebrian, Moldova's deputy prime minister in charge of the reintegration of Transnistria, told AFP that it was "regrettable" that Soviet-era energy distribution schemes persist.

The government has promised to connect the dozen villages in Transnistria under Chisinau's control that have faced gas or electricity problems to Moldova's network, but obstacles remain.

"It's a huge investment. Technically it's a bit difficult, it's very expensive," Cocieri official Ivan Mitcul said, but added that "the situation is critical".

'Stone Age'

Farther south, the town of Copanca -- which used to receive its electricity from a gas-fired thermal power station in Transnistria -- faces five-hour-long rolling blackouts.

But dozens of villagers protested last week when an electricity supplier began work in the area to connect it to the Moldovan grid.

"We didn't ask for help... Leave us as we are!" they shouted.

And when President Sandu visited the area a few days earlier, they told her they would rather remain in the dark than face "European prices".

After Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, Chisinau turned to neighbouring EU member Romania for its electricity supply, but the costs have doubled.

Serebrian accuses "an external influence" of being behind the protesters, which he described as "orchestrated, paid, in order to create a situation of confusion, chaos, to once again jeopardise the image of the Moldovan government".

Moscow has rejected the allegations against as "propaganda attacks".

While Moscow and Chisinau blame each other for the situation after the gas cut, many of the affected inhabitants view themselves as casualties of political games.

"All of them are guilty. No one wants to bow their head," Sergiu Sava, a 55-year-old bank guard from Cocieri, told AFP in front of his house, complaining that it was "a bit cold inside".

Meanwhile, in the Moldovan village of Varnita, another one of those affected by blackouts, people walk around with lanterns in their hands, while only a few shops on the main street remain lit with the help of humming generators

Valentina Gora, 65, sells eggs and bread to customers using a torch and the flashlight from her telephone.

"We are in the Stone Age. Yes, we want to be with Europe, but not under these conditions," she said.

"I don't care which side solves it, as long as it's solved."