Moldova asks EU for help after Gazprom’s gas flow closure
Moldova is asking European countries for help after Russian energy corporation Gazprom drastically reduced gas shipments to the country.
As reported by the Financial Times, Moldova is requesting emergency gas supplies through Romania to relieve pressure, reducing shortages and easing the increase in prices.
Gas supplies in the country have fallen by a third as prices have gone up in the space of a month from $550 to $790 per thousand cubic metres.
The country’s deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu said that such an increase is “not justified and not realistic for Moldova”, the Financial Times reported.
Spinu added that while the country was negotiating with Gazprom for a better deal, it was looking for alternatives from other countries such as Romania and Ukraine.
The cause for the price increase could be rooted in Moldova electing pro-Europe president Maia Sandu in December 2020.
“The most plausible explanation for their action is that Moldova has a pro-EU president and government and Russia is happy to use this situation to pressure the country,” the Financial Times reported Aura Sabadus, senior energy journalist at market information service ICS, as saying.