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Transnistria's gas cutoff: where things stood on 16 January 2025
Summary
A look back at the energy crisis in Moldova's breakaway region, which had extended its state of emergency days earlier.
What was happening in Transnistria on 16 January 2025? The unrecognised breakaway region of Moldova was in the middle of an energy crisis, after Russian gas supplies stopped reaching it at the end of 2024.
The supplies ended on 31 December 2024, at 19:50 EET, when Russia's five-year gas transit deal with Ukraine expired. The cutoff set off a nationwide energy crisis in Moldova. In Transnistria, heating, hot water and gas were completely cut off. Energy tariffs rose sharply, and some villages in the rest of Moldova were also left without gas.
On 10 January 2025, Transnistria extended its state of emergency for another month because of the crisis that followed the suspension of Russian gas supplies. The extension meant the emergency regime was still in force on 16 January.
The human cost was already visible. In Transnistria, three people died and several more were injured from carbon monoxide poisoning, and cases of hypothermia were also reported.
The episode showed how closely the region's heating and daily life were tied to a single gas route, and how quickly the expiry of a transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine could reach homes in Moldova.
