The gas delivered to the Transnistrian region is partially used in industry, admitted the Transnistrian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky. For its part, the official Chisinau denies the reports that the industrial enterprises on the left bank of the Nistru work, IPN reports.

Krasnoselsky pointed out that the daily volume of 3 million cubic meters is directed not only to consumers and for the production of electricity, but also to industry. However, the Moldovan authorities recently gave assurances that the gas delivered to the left bank of the Nistru is not intended for enterprises and that the industrial facilities do not operate.

The Transnistrian leader made the statements after the visit made last week by the head of the EU delegation Jānis Mažeiks to the Rybnitsa Steel Works. The European official stated that the plant was closed and that it was not working.

Meanwhile, a member of the board of the state-owned enterprise Energocom, Alexandr Slusari, said that during the EU ambassador’s visit, the plant's employees were sent home. Slusari warned that, in reality, the plant works and presented photos and videos in confirmation, saying that the plant initially worked at night, but then its program was extended to include the daytime.

The Government’s spokesman Daniel Vodă said earlier that if the Rybnitsa Steel Works is reopened, it will be obliged to pay taxes to the budget of the Republic of Moldova: "If the information about the restart is confirmed, the Prime Minister and Government officials spoke about the imposition of competition taxes, because we need to bring companies from the left and right banks into a fair competition framework," stated Daniel Vodă.

In February, Chisinau and Tiraspol agreed on a scheme for the delivery of natural gas to the left bank of the Nistru. Tiraspol refused the offer of €60 million from the European Union to overcome the energy crisis so as not to increase consumer charges. One of the conditions put forward to Tiraspol at that time was the limitation of industrial production. The Moldovan authorities insisted on this.

In an interview with the Russian news agency Ria Novosti, Vadim Krasnoselsky said that in the first two months of this year, the Transnistrian foreign economic activities halved. He criticized the policy pursued by the government in Chisinau, describing the demands that were to be fulfilled to get gas as "impossible to meet" and accused the Moldovan authorities of making "attempts to create economic difficulties in the Transnistrian region".