CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) 鈥� An electricity plant in a Moscow-backed breakaway region of will not resume supplying energy to the rest of the country after a meeting between Moldovan officials and representatives of the Transnistria region failed to produce an agreement Friday, authorities said.
The meetings held in 惭辞濒诲辞惫补鈥檚 capital, Chisinau, focused on a range of bilateral issues and had raised hopes of a breakthrough that would ease a severe energy crisis in one of .
But the talks moderated by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe did not yield any concrete results, including on resuming electricity supplies, Vitaly Ignatyev, the internationally unrecognized Transnistria government鈥檚 foreign minister, told reporters.
鈥淯nfortunately, we have not yet come to a solution to any of the problems,鈥� he said, adding that the parties planned to meet again before the end of this year.
The Kuciurgan plant in Transnistria, where Russia has around 1,500 troops based, stopped sending electricity to other parts of Moldova at the beginning of November.
Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebryan said after Friday's talks that 鈥渁dditional negotiations will be needed鈥� and that one of the government's priorities is securing low prices "to protect our citizens and businesses from burdensome bills.鈥�
"I must admit that our expectations are moderate,鈥� he said.
The Kuciurgan power plant is operated by the country鈥檚 largest energy company, which was privatized in 2004 by Transnistrian authorities and later sold to a Russian state-owned company. Moldova doesn鈥檛 recognize the privatization, but it lost control of the plant after a civil war in 1992.
Transnistria鈥檚 decision to stop transmitting electricity outside the region came after Russia dramatically to Moldova, which the landlocked country was entirely dependent on. The lost supplies are expected to exacerbate a winter energy crisis in the country of about 2.6 million people, where high prices could leave consumers scrambling to pay their bills.
惭辞濒诲辞惫补鈥檚 has been exposed in recent weeks after it suffered two major blackouts as a result of Russian strikes on Ukraine鈥檚 power grid. 惭辞濒诲辞惫补鈥檚 Soviet-era systems remain interconnected with Ukraine鈥檚, which is what caused the shutdowns.
惭辞濒诲辞惫补鈥檚 pro-Western president, Maia Sandu, called Moscow鈥檚 decision to cut gas supplies 鈥減olitical blackmail,鈥� and accused the Kremlin of trying to push Moldova off its path toward joining the European Union. Moldova became an E.U. candidate in June, on the same day as Ukraine did.
Russia鈥檚 war in Ukraine has created concerns the conflict might spread into Moldova via Transnistria.
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McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.
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Stephen Mcgrath And Cristian Jardan, The Associated Press
