Tofilat: Russia Continues to Use the Transnistrian Region for Blackmail

Tofilat notes that “the Kremlin’s strategic advantage is the Transnistrian region and the electricity produced there.” “At the same time, it is also Putin’s weakness, because without free Russian gas, the separatist regime will go bankrupt.” This is the opinion of Sergiu Tofilat, the government representative on the Moldovagaz Observer Council, who gave an interview to the În Context program. “We as a state must determine which side we are on. The whole civilized world is on Ukraine’s side. I think we should still be on the side of Ukraine. Because thanks to the Ukrainian army we can sleep peacefully today. They are defending the independence of the Republic of Moldova from the aggression of the Russian Federation and Putin. I’m totally against the fact that we should get along, make friends and take gas from Gazprom. Buying gas from Gazprom means financing Putin’s military aggression against Ukraine and Moldova,” Sergiu Tofilat claimed. He added that the separatist region survived all these years because it paid nothing for the received gas and the debt was transferred to Moldovagaz. Moreover, Tiraspoltransgaz sells fuel to the Cuciurgan metallurgical and power plant, and all the money goes to the budget of the separatist administration. “If Gazprom does not supply gas, the Transnistrian region will have no possibility to buy either gas or electricity at any price. Therefore, they will have to return to the constitutional zone of the Republic of Moldova. Thus, the Transnistrian conflict is moving to the stage of settlement. And it should be done in a peaceful way. Now we are talking about a reintegration plan. We need to implement our legislation, to see what we do with the financial system, with medicine, with justice, compensations so on. It is a more complicated process” - the government representative on the Moldovagaz Observer Council emphasized.