EU, Moldova Agree On Energy Security Plan, Cut Russian Supplies

The European Union (EU) and Moldova have agreed on an energy security plan designed to reduce the country’s reliance on Russian energy and integrate it into the EU’s power grid, the Associated Press reported.

The European Commission stated that its financial package would help Moldovan consumers manage rising electricity costs.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, announced that Moldova would receive 250 million euros ($258 million) in financial assistance this year—40% of it by mid-April—after Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom cut supplies to the country on Jan. 1.

The supply disruption led to daily power outages, particularly affecting Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria, where hundreds of thousands of residents were left without heating and hot water due to an alleged unpaid bill of $709 million.

Gazprom’s decision to halt gas flows took effect just one day after a gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expired, cutting off fuel to Transnistria’s Kuciurgan power plant—the country’s largest energy facility, which supplied a significant portion of Moldova’s electricity.

The European Commission stated that its financial package would help Moldovan consumers manage rising electricity costs. Of the total aid, 60 million euros ($62 million) is earmarked to support 350,000 people in Transnistria facing energy shortages.