(Reuters) – Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean called on Thursday for the resignation of Energy Minister Victor Parlicov for failing to tackle an energy crisis in the small former Soviet republic.
Recean also called during a briefing for the resignation of state energy company Energocom head Victor Binzari and Moldovagaz supervisory board member Sergiu Tofilat.
“The resignations are the first stage of correcting the crisis situation. I had full confidence in Minister Parlicov. But he did not ensure the purchase of gas,” news outlet Newsmaker quoted Recean as saying.
Recean also said he would ask parliament to impose a state of emergency in the energy sector, less than a month ahead of a possible termination of Russian gas transit through Ukraine to several eastern European countries including Moldova.
Ukraine has repeatedly said it would not extend its gas transit agreement with Russia after it expires on Dec. 31.
Moldova has previously said that cutting off supplies through Ukraine is a “very realistic” scenario, and that if Kyiv stops such transit, gas could be delivered via the TurkStream pipeline to Turkey and then via Bulgaria and Romania to Moldova.
Moldova’s breakaway Russian-backed Transdniestria region depends heavily on Russian natural gas.
Moldova currently receives about 2 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Russia through Ukraine and since 2022, Transdniestria and Chisinau have agreed that all Russian gas received by Moldova will go to the breakaway region.
Transdniestria has a large power plant fuelled by Russian gas and Chisinau, in turn, buys electricity from the region at a relatively low fixed price.
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Yuliia Dysa and Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Toby Chopra and Gareth Jones)
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