Closed schools, freezing homes, power cuts, economy at a standstill and most people furloughed ... The year 2025 has gotten off to a very bad start for the 367,000 inhabitants of Transnistria, a breakaway region to the east of Moldova in Eastern Europe. Although ruled for three decades by a pro-Russian authoritarian regime, this narrow strip of territory, landlocked between Ukraine and Moldova, saw its gas supply cut off by Moscow on January 1.

It's the logical outcome of a dispute between Russia and Moldova – a debt to Gazprom disputed by the Moldovans – as much as a consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On January 1, Kyiv cut off the gas pipeline running through its territory, which supplied Russian gas to Moldova, and therefore to Transnistria.

Transnistria, which is not recognized by any state in the world, is all the more affected because Russian gas covered 100% of its needs and was supplied "free of charge." In other words, in exchange for the alignment of its officials with Moscow, the maintenance of a Russian army detachment – whose departure the Moldovan authorities are demanding – and a form of annexation of the population through the distribution of Russian passports, accompanied by social benefits such as access to the Russian pension system.

You have 67.52% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.