Moldova returns to Poland for gas amid tensions with Russia
Bucharest, Romania (AB) – Moldova has turned to non-greasy natural gas suppliers for the first time, trying to avoid a gas shortage this winter, after failing to extend a long-term supply agreement with Moscow.
On Tuesday, Moldova received one million cubic meters of gas from Poland, which aims to diversify its energy supply to the small European nation of 3.5 million, after years of strong Russian influence.
The European Commission pledged on Wednesday to help the President of the Republic of Moldova, Mia Alley, in the online gas crisis, and later thanked the chairman of the commission, Ursula van de Leon.
Russia supplied all Moldovan gas until September, when the renewed contract with the Russian state gas company Gasprom was terminated.
Gazprom said over the weekend that Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, will have to pay a $ 709 million (10,610 million) debt to extend its contract. The Russian company also warned on December 1 that it would cut off supplies to Moldova if the money did not arrive.
Gosbrom extended the contract for a month at a high price of $ 790 per cubic meter, while the Moldovan brand Enercocom was looking for an alternative gas supplier. Moldovan officials are in talks with a Russian gas company.
Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spino said on Sunday that Gosprom’s “financial and non-financial conditions” are not in the interests of Moldovan citizens.
The agreement with the Polish supplier PGNiG was finally reached a week after the Moldovan parliament declared a 30-day state of emergency, reducing Gasprom’s gas supply by a third and increasing its prices.
The Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Moldova said on Monday that it must maintain gas flows “at an acceptable level” to “ensure the country’s energy security.”
Following the pro-EU party’s massive victory in the July 11 parliamentary elections, some observers gas controversy as an attempt to strengthen Russia’s influence in Moldova. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any political influence in the gas controversy.
“There are no political issues here, there can be none,” Peskov told a news conference on Wednesday. “There is a business offer with gas demand, a concession offer and a credit problem. It is not purely business and politicization.
Peskov mocked the news that Moldova will choose other gas suppliers, noting that these exports are more expensive than Russian gas.
Gosprom spokesman Sergei Kubryanov said the Russian gas company “cannot work for a loss” and that “Moldova is causing the crisis with its own hands.”
Dionysos Senusa, an analyst at the think tank expert group in Chisinau, says Moldova has been working for years to diversify its gas supply routes, especially with Romania.
“But this initiative is often politicized or there are no financial resources,” the Associated Press said. “Russia wants its influence in Moldova not to be undermined. The current energy crisis is being used to balance power with the EU. “
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Vladimir Izachenkov in Moscow contributed to this.