The separatist leader in Tiraspol, Vadim Krasnoselski, has announced that he agrees to gas being delivered to Transnistria via Moldovagaz, giving assurances that his administration “guarantees payment”. The information was confirmed by the Moldovan government, which said that the Moldovan authorities had proposed that Moldovagaz should buy the natural gas on the Moldovan stock exchange and deliver it to Transnistria.

“Tiraspol has informed us that it accepts that Moldovagaz will operate gas deliveries to Tiraspoltransgaz, on the basis of the legal provisions of the Republic of Moldova,” the official statement confirms. Tiraspol has requested that payment for natural gas, purchase and transport “at the border with the Republic of Moldova be carried out by third companies”, while Tiraspoltransgaz would pay Moldovagaz “only the value of transit through our country”, the Moldovan government added. For the time being, the responsible institutions are “analysing this request, the entities and the compliance of the procedure with national and international legal rigours”.

On 1 January 2025, Ukraine stopped the transit of Russian gas through its gas transmission system with the expiry of the transit contract, which was not extended due to the Russian invasion. No Russian gas will come through the Trans-Balkan pipeline to transport gas to the Transnistrian region in February either, as Gazprom did not book capacity by the deadline set in the ENTSO-G calendar – the third Monday of the current month, for the following month.

The Moldovan Energy Ministry has proposed to the Transnistrian administration to support the purchase of natural gas on the European exchanges or the Romanian Commodity Exchange in Chisinau as early as December 2024, anticipating the humanitarian crisis generated in the Transnistrian region by the unilateral halt of natural gas deliveries by Gazprom, contrary to the contractual provisions, recalls the Moldovan Government.