Moldova declares state of emergency over energy as fears of Russian gas shortage loom

Moldova imposes state of emergency over gas supply fears, with potential Russian interference and energy crisis looming.

Moldova’s parliament on Friday (December 13, 2024) voted in favour of imposing a state of emergency in the energy sector over fears that Russia could leave the European Union candidate country without sufficient natural gas supplies this winter.

A majority in Moldova’s 101-seat legislature voted to pass the state of emergency, which will start on December 16 and last 60 days. A special commission will urgently adopt measures to manage “imminent risks” if Moscow fails to supply gas to the Kuciurgan power plant, the country’s largest, which is situated in the separatist pro-Russian Transnistria region.

Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said his country faces an “exceptional situation” in which Moscow could deliberately weaponise energy flows to destabilise the country and potentially leave people “in the middle of winter without heat and electricity.”

Russian energy giant Gazprom supplies the gas-operated Kuciurgan plant, which generates electricity that powers a significant portion of Moldova proper. The plant was privatised in 2004 by Transnistrian officials and later sold to a Russian state-owned company. Moldova doesn’t recognise the privatisation.

In late 2022, Moldova suffered major power outages following Russian strikes on neighbouring Ukraine, which is interconnected to the Kuciurgan plant.

“This must be the last winter in the country’s history in which we can still be threatened with energy,” Mr. Recean said. “It is clear that these crises are deliberately provoked, and their goal is to create panic and chaos.”

He added that a cessation of natural gas could trigger economic and humanitarian crises but vowed that nobody in Moldova would be left “in the cold and dark.”