Page 16 - FSUOGM Week 42 2021

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Moldova declares state of alert, seeks

to buy gas from Ukraine or Romania

MOLDOVA MOLDOVA’S Commission for Exceptional Sit- to interfere with the energy market liberalisa-
uations (CSE) declared a state of alert related to tion in Moldova agreed by the country with the
Moldova hasbeen the natural gas market on October 13 and the Energy Community as part of its European inte-
paying high spot prices government mandated the country’s central- gration process. Moldovagaz, controlled by Gaz-
to Gazprom since ised electricity supply company Energocom to prom, should unbundle its operations under the
October 1. negotiate natural gas imports from Ukraine and liberalisation strategy. Gazprom has also used
Romania, Deputy PM Andrei Spinu announced. the argument of the $450mn overdue debt owed
As scarce gas supplies from Russia depressed by Moldova proper (apart from the $7bn owed
the electricity output of the power plant in Trans- by separatist Transnistria) to Gazprom, Spinu
nistria, Moldova had to “borrow” electricity implied.
from Ukraine during the day on October 13, But Moldova also lacks clarity as regards its
under an existing arrangement made possible own negotiation strategy with Gazprom.
by the interconnection of the power grids of the "There is a historical relationship between
two countries. Moldovagaz and Gazprom, based on some for-
Moldova has been paying high spot prices to mulas and we believe that we can rely on them,
Gazprom since October 1, when Gazprom also maybe with some interventions [corrections],"
cut the gas supplies by one third as the Russian Spinu said, updating the journalists on the ongo-
company is apparently seeking a new long-term ing negotiations.
contract with Moldova — at the same time using As for Russian gas, "the price proposed by the
the opportunity to leverage its gas supplies to Russian side, we consider that the market price
alter the pro-EU orientation of the new admin- is not acceptable for the Republic of Moldova,"
istration in Chisinau. he added.
"Tomorrow, the CSE decision will be pub- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
lished in full, and we'll see what each institution on Wednesday that the US and the European
has to do. The households will not be affected Union “are exercising unprecedented interfer-
by this state of alert. There are several working ence in the internal affairs of the Republic of
groups and an action plan, which will be imple- Moldova”, claiming they are “directly banning”
mented," said Spinu. President Maia Sandu, from talking about the
At least for the coming days, Moldova does desire to have normal relations with Russia.
not have to worry about electricity supplies, "We support the sovereignty of the state and
Spinu stated, stressing at the same time that the territorial integrity of the Republic of Mol-
borrowing electricity from Ukraine is only a dova, a country close to us historically,” Lavrov
short-term fix and that the situation on the gas said.
market is much more critical. With no own pri- He stressed that Russia “respects the results”
mary energy resources (oil, gas, coal, hydro or of the July parliamentary elections.
nuclear), Moldova fully depends on imports. “But they [the US and the EU] forbid [Sandu]
Spinu admitted that Moldova has no clarity as talking about the desire to have normal relations
regards under what terms the natural gas deliv- with the Russian Federation. We hope that the
eries from Russia will continue after November Chisinau authorities will be able to act inde-
1. pendently without external pressure,” Lavrov
He implied that the talks with Gazprom are said at the opening of the 17th meeting of the
not going well, since the Russians are insisting on heads of security agencies and intelligence ser-
the (high) spot prices and using the negotiations vices in the CIS states on intelligence activities.™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 20•October•2021