By AFP and Kontur | 2025-01-10

WARSAW -- Residents in the Moldovan region of Transnistria are facing a frosty start to 2025 -- with no heating, no hot water and widespread electricity shortages after Russia halted gas supplies to the separatist region.

Cut off from energy from Moscow, authorities have been forced to shut factories, close schools and encourage locals to collect firewood to heat their stoves.

"It's 16 degrees [Celsius inside]... We have layered up and are trying to drink warm tea and warm water," said Svetlana Gazul, a 58-year-old schoolteacher.

"We try to stay at home, under a blanket," she told AFP by telephone.

Gazul lives in Grigoriopol, a town of 10,000 on the banks of the Dniester river, which separates the mostly Russian-speaking territory of Transnistria from the rest of Moldova.

Moscow's decision to cut gas deliveries on January 1 plunged Transnistria into what its leader has called an "unprecedented" energy crisis.

Carbon monoxide and no food

At the moment, Transnistria has enough gas for some to warm their stoves -- but not for central heating or hot water.

And authorities say those supplies for cooking will last barely a month.

Electricity is being rationed, with four-hour-long rolling blackouts introduced across the territory.

The massive use of space heaters has pushed the Soviet-era grid to the brink of collapse, authorities have warned.

Some residents have died of carbon monoxide poisoning after leaving stoves on overnight for warmth, including an elderly couple, according to authorities.

In Grigoriopol, Eleonora Cercavschi, the 64-year-old principal of a Romanian-language school, fears the situation could even lead to food shortages.

"So far everything [in the stores] is there," she told AFP via phone. "But what will it be in a week, two weeks, because every day the situation is changing?"

"Bread is available only in the morning. If you don't manage to buy it, there's none left in the evening."

With factories closed or switching to night shifts, she worries about rising unemployment and falling incomes.

In the Transnistrian capital, Tiraspol, 47-year-old blogger Yury Statsky also says the crisis "is likely to get worse."

The area's main power plant has switched to using coal but has stocks only until mid-February.

Zombified

Moldovan President Maia Sandu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have offered help to Transnistria.

"I want [Transnistrians] to know that Gazprom has created this crisis," Sandu said January 9, using Russian to reach Russian speakers in Transnistria, according to Newsmaker.md. "We are ready to help with generators and medications."

"We are ready to help Moldova, particularly with coal," Zelenskyy said January 8 in his nightly video address.

"How can Moldova be to blame if for more than 30 years it hasn't controlled this territory?" asked Cercavschi.

"You have to pay your bills, not live off other people," the principal added, referring to Transnistria's reliance on handouts from Moscow.

But it is unclear if that message cuts through.

For Gazul, the local pro-Russia, anti-Moldova, anti-West propaganda is strong.

"They are zombified," she said.

"They don't understand."