EU assistance to tackle energy crisis in Transnistria will reduce dependence on Russia – ISW
Pravda Ukraine
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have suggested that EU assistance in overcoming the energy crisis in Moldova will reduce “Russia’s ability to exploit Transnistria in its energy blackmail schemes”.
Source: ISW
Quote: “The European Union (EU) proposed an aid package on 27 January to Moldova and Transnistria to help the ongoing gas crisis in the pro-Russian breakaway republic as part of efforts to reduce Russia’s ability to exploit Transnistria in its energy blackmail schemes targeting Chisinau.”
Details: The package includes an emergency loan of three million cubic metres of gas for the Transnistrian region and a €30 million (about US$31.4 million) grant for Moldova to purchase gas, likely from the European market, from 1-10 February.
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said that the EU will continue to support Chisinau after 10 February so that the Transnistrian region can continue to produce electricity for Transnistria and Moldova.
Quote: “The EU aid package offers to invest in Transnistrian electricity production and distribution over the next two years.
The EU stated that it is also considering supporting coal deliveries from Ukraine to Transnistria and that it has supported the allocation of transmission capacity along the gas delivery route from Bulgaria and Romania to Moldova.
ISW continues to assess that Transnistria’s possible acceptance of aid from Moldova, Ukraine, or the EU and Transnistria’s subsequent supply of cheaper electricity to the rest of Moldova would disrupt Russian efforts to use the energy crisis to strengthen Transnistria’s economic dependence on Moscow, to posture Russia as the breakaway republic’s saviour and benefactor, and to leverage Chisinau’s turn to higher-priced European electricity as part of Moscow’s anti-EU narratives.”
To quote the ISW’s Key Takeaways on 27 January:
- Ukrainian forces struck Russian long-range drone storage facilities in Oryol Oblast again on 26 January.
- The European Union (EU) proposed an aid package on 27 January to Moldova and Transnistria to help address the ongoing gas crisis in the pro-Russian breakaway republic as part of efforts to reduce Russia’s ability to exploit Transnistria in its energy blackmail schemes targeting Chisinau.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky replaced Khortytsia Group of Forces Commander Brigadier General Andrii Hnatov with Ground Forces Commander Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi on 26 January.
- Ukrainian forces recently recaptured lost positions near Toretsk.
- Russian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, Chasiv Yar and Kurakhove.
- The Russian government continues to expand the federal “Time of Heroes” programme, which aims to install Kremlin-selected veterans into government positions, by creating similar programmes for Russian veterans across government, including at the regional level.
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