2025 Moldovan energy crisis

[5] Moldova paid millions of euros to Transnistria every year in exchange of electricity at below-the-market prices, effectively financing separatism in its own territory.

[19] On 5 December, Recean announced that he had requested the resignation of Parlicov, as he was the responsible for managing the energy sector and "he made mistakes that led us to this situation of crisis".

[20] On the same day, 26 members of the Parliament of Moldova for the Bloc of Communists and Socialists (BCS), the main opposition party, presented a motion of no confidence against the Recean Cabinet over the energy situation, also calling for early parliamentary elections.

[21] Ion Ceban, the Mayor of Chișinău and president of the National Alternative Movement (MAN), called for the resignation of the cabinet and the organisation of early parliamentary elections following Recean's sackings,[22] and so did the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

[27] On 17 December, the Moldovan energy ministry announced that Gazprom had not reserved any capacity to transport gas through the Trans-Balkan pipeline for Transnistria for January 2025 after the auctions for the month took place the previous day.

[14] On 23 December, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia (SVR RF) alleged that Sandu had asked for a plan to take the Cuciurgan power station and Transnistria as a whole by force, that was no guarantee that she would not start a war in the region and that she "is out of her mind".

[30] Also on the same day, the opposition Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), led by former president Igor Dodon, called on the government, which it blamed for the situation, to find solutions regarding the problem of the debt demanded by Gazprom and re-establish dialogue with Russia to continue the supply of gas and prevent a humanitarian crisis.

[31] On 30 December, Sandu announced that the Moldovan government and its partners had developed a plan to provide humanitarian aid to the citizens in Transnistria,[32] later stating that the Transnistrian authorities had rejected help from Moldova.

[34] The Moldovan authorities accused Russia of trying to destabilise the country through energy blackmail in order to influence the 2025 parliamentary election and undermine Moldova's path towards Europe.

[32] Recean asked the Minister of Justice, Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, to prepare the legislative changes that would allow for the nationalization of Moldovagaz, of which at that time Gazprom owned half of all shares, Transnistria 13% and the Moldovan government 35.6%.

[58] Constantin Borosan, secretary of state of Moldova's energy ministry, reported on 5 January that the power deficit in Transnistria had reached around 30% of consumption, about 65 MW, as people were using electric heaters to warm up.

[77] Dozens of people protested in Copanca on 17 January against changing the connection of the village and paying higher tariffs,[78] with residents blocking works to install transmission towers.

[80] After the end of the Russian gas supplies to Transnistria, the energy company Tirasteploenergo urged Transnistrian residents to dress warmly, gather family members together in a single room, hang blankets or thick curtains over windows and balcony doors and use electric heaters, stating that it was forbidden to use gas or electric stoves to heat the apartment, as "this can lead to tragedy".

[81] On 5 January, Transnistria's Ministry of Health stated that, the previous day, over 500 people presented to outpatient centres in Tiraspol and Bender with fever, of whom a dozen were hospitalised.

[83] Transnistria's Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on 5 January that a retired couple had died in Cioborciu from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning after leaving a stove on and going to sleep.

[89] The next day, the Moldovan government announced it had alternative energy sources (biomass systems, generators), humanitarian aid and essential medical supplies ready to be sent to Transnistria if the separatist authorities accepted the help.

[91] Furthermore, the Russian embassy in Chișinău [ro; ru] stated that Transnistria's situation had been created by the West and Ukraine, that some Moldovan "hot-heads" were proposing to resolve the conflict by force and that these actions "will not go unanswered".

[99] On 15 January, Krasnoselsky announced that an agreement had been reached with Russia for the supply of "humanitarian gas" to Transnistria, with the route, payment and transit still pending negotiation.

[102] The company's owner, Arcadie Vicol, was arrested the next day by officers of the Security and Intelligence Service of Moldova (SIS), being suspected of "treason and hostile activities in favor of the Russian Federation".

Furthermore, a shortage of energy resources would aggravate the humanitarian crisis; problems with fuel needed for heating could generate a severe social and economic disaster in the region according to Sydorenko.

[1] Parlicov expressed similar hopes; in a TV8 programme on 27 November 2024, he stated that the region could be reintegrated by 2026 if Moldova established a good interaction with the Transnistrian authorities.

[1] In an article for the Harvard International Review, Lizzie Place noted that the Moldovan government could theoretically cut off all energy payments to Transnistria to put pressure on the region to reintegrate.

Moldovan scholar Ion Marandici regarded a gradual decrease in energy payments to Transnistria coupled with humanitarian assistance for residents as a more realistic scenario for reintegration.

These accusations included narratives that Sandu had ordered and prepared a military takeover of Transnistria, that she had refused to discuss with Ukraine the continuation of the transit of gas, that Moldova would take "revenge" on Transnistria if Russia refused to continue supplying gas to Moldova and that the EU would be passive or even tacitly supportive of a new crisis in Russia's sphere of influence.

[112] Following the SVR RF's 23 December 2024 intelligence report, Russian state-owned news agency TASS stated on Telegram that the EU did not know how to calm "emotionally unstable" Sandu, who was preparing a military intervention into Transnistria.

Moldovan fugitive oligarch and politician Ilan Shor made use of the SVR RF's report, stating that he had already warned multiple times that Moldova was getting into the same "scheme" that had been "implemented" in Ukraine, that "Sandu will flee, and ordinary people will suffer" and that "we have to stop her before it is too late".

[112] The report, the news agencies' publications and Shor's post were reposted by dozens of pro-Russian Telegram channels, gaining tens of thousands of views.

154,000 views were gained as of the same day by a post of the channel Lomovka, which accused Sandu of "taking the gas from the people" and wanting to form a military coalition with Western support to "capture" Transnistria.

[112] Adrian Băluțel, the chief of staff of Sandu's presidency, denied accusations that Moldova was preparing an attack against Transnistria, calling them a dangerous hoax meant to spread panic.

[113] Moldovan analyst Andrei Curăraru stated that the accusations were part of a destabilization plan and that they could be preceding several possible scenarios: an incident fabricated by Russia at the Cuciurgan power station to justify an intervention in Transnistria; extra accusations blaming Moldova of sabotaging Transnistria's energy to cause further hostility between the two and divert attention from Russia's failures; and an intensification of anti-Moldovan propaganda to radicalize the Transnistrian population and hinder any dialogue process.