There is no fraternal price: How Russia "blackmails" Moldova with gas

The change of pro-Russian authorities in Moldova has brought the country into disfavor with Moscow, it is claimed in Chisinau. Less expensive gas is delivered and the only guarantee that there will be gas at all is the separatist territory of Transnistria.

It's not winter yet, and Europe is trembling due to a possible lack of gas. The debate spilled over from politics among ordinary citizens, so to speak, into a small talk: will Russia deliver more gas or will the Kremlin continue to put pressure by artificially reducing supply?

In Moldova, that is not a possible near future, but the present. One of the poorest countries in Europe, completely dependent on Russian gas, is facing Gazprom's demands to raise the price significantly and return the alleged old debts. Russia's giant energy supplier has cut deliveries by about 35 percent in recent weeks, according to expert estimates.

Since 2007, Moldova has been supplying Russian gas at a price formed on the basis of the average European price under long-term supply contracts. Last year, which ended at the end of September, that price was around 150 dollars for a thousand cubic meters of gas.

Since then, Gazprom has been seeking much more, focusing on current market prices. According to the hastily concluded contract for October, Moldova pays almost 800 dollars for a thousand cubic meters. For example, the price for Belarus remained the same - about 150 dollars.

Last week, therefore, the government in Chisinau declared an energy state of emergency, which means restrictions for large consumers - they have to switch from gas to heating oil or fuel oil. The government now has the right to procure gas from other bidders as a matter of urgency. On Monday, a contract was concluded with the Polish supplier Energokom.

It seems that deliveries from neighboring Romania will still be awaited. The new gas pipeline between Iasi (Romania) and Ungheni (Moldova) is still in trial operation.

Revenge for the change of government?

Russia has previously turned the valve on Moldova several times. "The moment of this blackmail is not accidental," economist and energy expert Sergija Tofilat tells us. "There have been no problems with gas supplies for years, but now it is different: pro-Russian forces in our country have lost power."

Since last December, the country's president has been pro-European politician Maja Sandu. It then won elections against pro-Russian rival and former head of state Igor Dodon. Then, in July, Dodon's Socialist Party lost the parliamentary elections and went into opposition. The new authorities intend European integration and reforms in the field of the rule of law and the fight against corruption.

President Sandu and the government have said several times that they are interested in normal and good relations with Russia. But, as Sandu said, relations must be equal. There is no talk about that for now.

Moldova, formerly Romanian territory, was annexed by the Soviets in 1940 after the pact of Stalin and Hitler. During the disintegration of the USSR and the secession of Moldova in 1991, the eastern belt of that republic, Transnistria, declared independence.

Since then, pro-Russian separatists have ruled here, although no country in the world has recognized them. Thousands of Russian soldiers are still in Transnistria, as well as a huge old Soviet arsenal of weapons. At the OSCE summit in 1999, Moscow undertook to withdraw its troops by 2002, but that has not happened until today.

In recent months, Moldovan President Sanda reminded the Kremlin of that and demanded a solution to the Transnistrian issue, but also announced solidarity with Georgia and Ukraine, parts of whose territory are also occupied by pro-Russian separatists.

Debt dispute

Russian authorities and Gazprom deny that energy has anything to do with politics. Last week, Valentina Matviyenko, the president of the Russian Federation Council and thus the third person in the state hierarchy, said that the "rough anti-Russian outbursts" of the Moldovan president would necessarily affect bilateral relations.

The statement came after Matviyenko met with the president of the Moldovan parliament, where they also discussed the gas issue.

In addition, Gazprom is demanding $ 700 million from Moldova in the name of alleged old debts. In Chisinau, they are resisting, pointing out that the nominal debtor - the Moldovan gas monopoly MoldovaGaz - now belongs to Gazprom anyway. It is allegedly unclear how much the daughter-firm owes to the large owner.

"Earlier, huge sums of money leaked from MoldovaGaz through fraud and corruption," says economist Tofilat. "Who owes what to whom should be clarified by a comprehensive audit of MoldovaGaz's business." But something like that has not been implemented yet. "

All gas through separatist territory

Last week, an interesting delegation left Chisinau for Moscow, which also included Deputy Prime Minister Vlad Kulminski. They talked with Gazprom representatives, but also with the deputy head of Putin's presidential administration, Dmitry Kozak.

It is interesting that Kulminski is actually in charge of the Transnistrian issue in the Moldovan government, while Kozak in 2003 was the initiator of the memorandum which foresaw the federalization of Moldova and the recognition of Transnistria. Two years later, the then president,

Vladimir Voronin, surprisingly refused to sign the memorandum, and then Moscow turned on the gas tap again. And then it was explained by economic, not political reasons.

It is not news that the issues of energy and self-proclaimed Transnistria are intertwined. Namely, Russian gas mostly goes to that runaway part of Moldova, where there is also a large Russian gas power plant - which supplies electricity to the whole of Moldova.

Transnistria does not pay for Russian gas. It is estimated that their debt - which Gazprom never even claimed - has accumulated to eight billion dollars. In doing so, Russia is actually subsidizing the separatist region, while at the same time making lucrative business for a number of Russian and Moldovan companies.

Therein lies another paradox. Russia will not completely suspend gas supplies to Moldova because that could jeopardize the pro-Russian mood in Transnistria.

Some in Chisinau see the only real way out is a radical cut and liberation from energy dependence on Russia. "We have often experienced Russian gas becoming a political weapon against us," political scientist Igor Botan told DW. "Finally, we should learn something from that."