#MOLDOVA

The U.K. has imposed sanctions on a network of pro-Russian operatives it claims was responsible for an attempt to rig a referendum on Moldova joining the European Union.

The president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, has called “unacceptable” what she described as repeated cases of Russian interference in her country’s internal affairs.

Moscow denies Moldova’s allegations and has promised retaliation.

Moldovan police have detained the leader of the country’s pro-Russian Gagauz minority following the unexplained disappearance of two pro-Russian lawmakers accused of corruption, authorities said on Tuesday.

Russia retains a peacekeeping force in Transnistria.

A Hungarian-owned trading company will supply Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region with natural gas following a request from Russia's energy minister, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday.

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.

Moldova has delivered over 5.7 million cubic meters of natural gas to the crisis-hit breakaway region of Transnistria in recent days, the country’s state-owned energy company said.

Moldovan opposition leader Alexandr Stoianoglo, who was defeated in a presidential vote in November, said on Friday he was taking the helm of a coalition of three parties to challenge the pro-Western ruling majority at this year's parliamentary election.

Moldova will on Saturday send 3 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to its separatist enclave Transnistria, the first fuel supply to the area since the end of December, when gas transit through Ukraine was halted, a Moldovan industry official said on Friday.

Russia said on Monday that it had summoned the Moldovan ambassador to Moscow to protest what its foreign ministry called “unfounded accusations” made against the Russian ambassador in Chișinău by a Moldovan political party.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes Europe and the United States will be involved in any talks about ending his country's war with Russia, he told reporters on Saturday.

Moldova’s government has asked Russia to share details of its plans to resume gas supplies to the separatist Transnistria region after Moscow-based media reported that deliveries via Turkey could start on February 1.

Russia is aiming to destabilize Moldova by using energy as a strategic weapon, the Moldovan prime minister has warned.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia was ready to provide gas to Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region, but needed logistical support from Moldova to make that happen.

Authorities in Moldova's separatist Transnistria region said on Saturday that energy conservation measures have allowed them to ease restrictions caused by a halt to Russian gas supplies, with the duration of rolling blackouts to be further reduced.

Authorities in the unrecognized breakaway republic of Transnistria have extended a state of emergency as it continues to grapple with a worsening energy crisis.

Russia is weaponizing gas deliveries to target Moldova in hybrid warfare, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief has said.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning what it called “dangerous disinformation” spread by the Russian embassy in Moldova, adding that Moscow is seeking to “deflect responsibility” for an energy crisis that has stricken the region of Transnistria.

Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region has introduced four-hour rolling power outages amid a winter freeze, leaving its population of nearly half a million shivering without electricity, heating or hot water after Russia halted gas deliveries.