By Alexander Tanas
CHISINAU (Reuters) -Moldova’s president on Thursday sacked Energy Minister Victor Parlicov and the prime minister called for two other senior energy officials to resign for failing to tackle an energy crisis in the small former Soviet republic.
Dorin Recean, the prime minister, also said he would ask parliament to impose a state of emergency in the energy sector.
Ukraine has repeatedly said it would not extend its gas transit agreement with Russia after it expires on Dec. 31, raising the risk of a cut-off of Russian gas to several eastern European countries, including Moldova.
Moldova’s Moscow-backed breakaway Transdniestria region is particularly dependent on Russian gas.
“The resignations are the first stage of correcting the crisis situation. I had full confidence in Minister Parlicov. But he did not ensure the purchase of gas,” Recean told a news briefing. The presidential decree sacking Parlicov followed.
Parlicov said he knew his position was temporary and he was leading the ministry “as long as I was trusted”.
Recean also called for the resignation of state energy company Energocom head Victor Binzari and Moldovagaz supervisory board member Sergiu Tofilat for failing to buy and store enough volumes of gas at favourable price.
The government plans to ask parliament to impose a preventative state of emergency starting Dec. 16, he added.
“A state of energy emergency is necessary to manage the risks of energy supply disruptions, at least partially, and to allow the government to impose certain actions, including restricting energy exports,” Recean added citing uncertainty over gas supplies.
Moldova has received about 2 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Russia through Ukraine and since 2022, Transdniestria and Chisinau have agreed that all Russian gas received by Moldova will go to the breakaway region.
Transdniestria also has a large power plant fuelled by Russian gas and Chisinau, in turn, buys electricity from the region at a relatively low fixed price.
Recean urged state bodies responsible for energy to prepare for various scenarios, including cuts of power supply from the power plant in Transdniestria.
Moldova has previously said that cutting off supplies through Ukraine is a “very realistic” scenario, and that if Kyiv stops such transit, gas could be delivered via the TurkStream pipeline to Turkey and then via Bulgaria and Romania to Moldova.
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Yuliia Dysa and Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Toby Chopra, Gareth Jones and Barbara Lewis)
