The head of Moldova’s breakaway region Transnistria has urged residents to burn firewood for heating and warned that blackouts cannot be avoided, after Moscow stopped supplying gas via Ukraine.

By Iulian Ernst in Bucharest With no natural gas and insufficient electricity produced from its limited coal reserves, the pro-Russian separatist Transnistria region in Moldova has chosen to live under a self-imposed energy blockade after Ukraine discontinued the transfer of Russian gas to Europe (including Moldova) on January 1,

Residents of Transnistria face severe energy shortages after Russia halted gas supplies, leading to factory closures and blackouts.

Moldova would not object to Ukraine's proposal to help unrecognised Transnistria with its energy crisis in order to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the region. Source: Moldovan PM Dorin Recean in a commentary to European Pravda Details: Recean noted that Chișinău has not asked Ukraine to help Transnistria with energy resources but would not object to it.

A renegade part of Moldova once boasted it would become a Russian-speaking Switzerland. Now without gas, its leader assured residents, “We will not allow a societal collapse.”

Moldova 'strongly condemns provocative rhetoric and dangerous insinuations' about alleged ‘forceful resolution' of Transnistrian issue, says Foreign Ministry

"Russian propaganda tries to create a story in which Moldova becomes a ‘problematic actor,’ although the government has proposed clear solutions to avoid the crisis," Moldovan government spokesperson Daniel Voda said on Jan.

Russian breakaway region of Transnistria has deepened, with residents now facing disruptions in water supplies, according to Prime Minister Dorin Recean.

Moldova has accused Russia of triggering an energy crisis after tens of thousands of homes in its eastern breakaway region of Transnistria were left without heating, gas or electricity following the end of a Ukraine gas transit agreement last week.