Moldova's pro-Russian breakaway Transnistria region has rejected a European Union offer of 60 million euros to fund gas purchases because of concern Moscow would lose control of the territory, Moldova's government said on Monday.
"Russia does not allow them to accept European aid for fear of losing control over the region," Moldova's Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on Facebook. He said the main excuse given for rejecting the EU offer was a condition that energy prices for consumers gradually be raised.
Residents of Transnistria, a sliver of territory run by pro-Russian separatists along Moldova's border with Ukraine, have been left with no heat or power since Jan. 1, when shipments of Russian natural gas were halted.
Gas supplies resumed in early February thanks to a 30 million euro grant from the EU which has been extended to February 10.
The EU has offered another 60 million euros worth of energy for Transnistria, conditional on steps taken "on fundamental freedoms and human rights". The region's authorities have not commented on the offer.
The territory, which broke free from Moldova's control in a short war in the 1990s, had benefited for decades from cheap Russian gas, which it used to heat homes and produce electricity sold to the rest of Moldova. Moscow has thousands of troops stationed there.
The EU conditions for extending gas supplies include increasing the prices charged in the region for heavily subsidised power, water and heat, Moldova's Prime Minister Dorin Recean has said.
Russia blames Moldova and Ukraine for the energy crisis in Transnistria, while Moldova blames Moscow. Gazprom suspended gas exports to Transnistria on January 1, citing an unpaid Moldovan debt of $709 million that Chisinau does not recognise as valid.
At the same time, an agreement with Ukraine on the transport of Russian gas over Ukrainian territory expired and was not renewed by Kyiv. Moldova accuses Gazprom of violating a longstanding contract by refusing to send the gas via alternative routes.
