Kyiv says it can supply Moldova with coal as gas transit agreement with Russia ends

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met his Moldovan counterpart Maia Sandu in Kyiv to discuss the energy needs of the Transnistria region.

Natural gas supplies to the Russia-aligned strip of land stopped on 1 January due to Ukraine’s decision not to renew a gas transit agreement with Russia.

Ukraine has said it can offer coal to the Transnistrian authorities to make up for the shortfall.

“Now Russia is holding hostage, one might say, all of Transnistria, the Transnistrian region of Moldova. It caused a jump in electricity prices in most of Moldova. And we all see it. It is not just possible and should be resolved, it would not have happened at all if Moscow did not want to influence the elections in Moldova. Ukraine offers Moldova to fix this situation together,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy was referring to November’s presidential election in Moldova which saw pro-EU Sandu re-elected following a last-minute surge from overseas voters.

Moldovan authorities accused Moscow of running an interference campaign to see a friendly candidate installed to keep the former Soviet state within Russia’s orbit.

“This is a calculated strategy. Russia aims to create social and economic chaos, fuel tensions across Transnistria and install a pro-Kremlin government in Chisinau. It is an ultimate goal to consolidate its military presence, illegally stationed in the Transnistrian region and use Moldova against Ukraine,” Sandu said at the press conference in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine may send specialists to maintain the Moldovan State District Power Plant and that he has discussed with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev the possibility of using Ukrainian infrastructure to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

Russian gas supplies to European Union countries via Ukraine ended on the first day of this year, marking the end of a five-year deal singed in 2019 between the two warring countries, that allowed Moscow’s exports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to the continent to transit in Ukraine before being rerouted to its final destination.

The deal was highly lucrative, paying out billions to the Kremlin in revenues and to Kyiv in transit fees.

Zelenskyy said last year he had no intention of renewing the deal, stressing the importance for Europe of moving on from Russia and not allowing the Kremlin to “earn additional billions” on Ukrainian blood.

The pro-Russia breakaway territory of Transnistria, which claimed unilateral and internationally unrecognised independence following a short war in 1992, has been particularly hard-hit by that decision.

Moldova and Transnistria both declared an emergency after Russia cut gas supplies on 1 January, citing an alleged $709 million (€688m) debt for past supplies, an allegation that the Moldovan government has fiercely denied.

The decision by Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom came into action a day after the Ukraine gas transit agreement expired and stopped gas flowing to Transnistria’s gas-operated Kuciurgan power plant, the country’s largest, which generated electricity that powered a significant portion of Moldova.

The stoppage led to the closure of almost all industrial activity and power cuts of up to eight hours a day.

Moscow said in mid-January that Transnistria would receive gas from Russia as “humanitarian aid,” but the rest of Moldova would remain cut off from the supply.