Blackouts and Price Rise: How Moldova Faces Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
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In Moldova, large-scale emissions have already been encountered several times due to shelling of Russia randomly in neighboring Ukraine.
Moldova found itself in a vulnerable position after the start of the war.
The country is not only almost completely dependent on Russia – almost all gas transmission lines go to Moldova through Ukraine.
Because of this, Russian strikes on the infrastructure of Ukraine have already led to power outages in Moldova and, as a counteraction to the authorities, will lead to them again.
Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu accused Russia of the impending doom of the war against his country. “It’s simple,” he says. “They don’t want Moldova to follow the European path.”
Vineyard Purcari is located on the hills just 500 meters from the border with Ukraine.
Almost all wine from the Purcari region used to be delivered to Russia. When Moscow won wine imports from Moldova in 2006 and 2013, it almost went bankrupt.
“We couldn’t get wages. We couldn’t pay suppliers. We lost our export market,” says Vasily Tofan, chairman of Purcari’s administrative board.
Wine is very important to Moldova in a cultural and economic sense, and To believes that Russian bans have been excluded from RF surveillance.
“Russia always goes to religious markets to pursue its geopolitical interests,” Tofan says.
But the company treated the cargo as a new opportunity. Today, Purcari is the largest wine exporter in Moldova, mainly in the EU, USA and Asia.
What happened to them is happening to all of Moldova today, but instead of Russia using energy resources to fulfill the offer to deviate from the intended route to Europe. The current government receives financial assistance from the EU and offers business subsidies, but the economic situation is still very difficult.
Inflation in the refugee country is 30%, many Moldovans are struggling to pay their bills.
In the huge central market of Chisinau, elderly women in headscarves put on the counters meaty fruits and vegetables, as well as Moldovan delicacies – whole urinal watermelons.
“The winter is very difficult, although it has not even begun yet. But we already feel it,” says the saleswoman Maria. “Like everyone else, it is difficult for us to pay the bill. People save on food, try to get into debt so as not to lose their house.”
Perhaps the situation will worsen. Russian “Gazprom” threatens further The danger of already limited energy supplies.
The pro-European government of Moldova accuses Russia of dishonest interference in trade and helps to get rid of dependence on energy.
But that’s easier said than done. The new transmission lines connected to the EU power grid are changing the current ones, but only after three years.
Until this happens, electricity to Moldova will occur not only through Ukraine, but also through Transnistria, which broke away from the country.
The self-proclaimed Transnistrian Moldavian Republic emerged from a brief and bloody conflict in the 1990s, which it endured with the help of Russian troops. About 1,500 Russian “peacekeepers” have spoken there to this day.
Power lines go through the huge Moldavian State District Power Plant on the Kuchurgan River. You can see your building from the Vineyards in Purcara.
The Moldovan government and Moldovan winemakers are reducing their share of consumption in Russia, they are diversifying markets and investing resources in federal resources.
However, protests are raging in the streets of the capital: protesters, tens of thousands, rise to heights demanding that President Maia Sandu and her cabinet be held responsible for inflation.
Some of the protesters are hoping that a rise in development with rising prices, the existence of which is difficult to deny, can become a closer connection with Russia.