Transnistria’s debt for gas is 'blackmail tactic'

The debt of the Transnistrian region for gas is a blackmail tactic, considers Transnistrian issue expert Oazu Nantoi. In a press club meeting, he said that the money collected from the Transnistrians for gas is accumulated into a special account and does not get to Moldovagaz for being paid afterward to Gazprom officially. The money is used for covering the region’s budget deficit. “This is not a debt that must be paid by somebody. It is a practice of the Russian Federation that maintains the region this way and that wants to create a blackmail instrument against Moldova, in the situation in which our administrations have not even thought how to solve this problem since 1999. I do not understand why Valeriu Lazar (minister of economy, e.n.) recognizes the legitimacy of this debt. In this case, the excessive debt of over US$4million must be indeed paid by somebody. The wise make money, while the fool pay,” said Oazu Nantoi. According to the expert, the energy produced at the Cuchurgan Power Plant (which is owned by the Russian company Inter RAO UES) contributes to a rise in Moldova’s debt for Russian gas. The plant pays US$150 per thousand cubic meters of gas, instead of US$400. The Transnistrians pay five times less for the consumed gas than the Moldovans living on the right bank of the Nistru. Oazu Nantoi also said that the decision to found Moldovagaz envisions performing an international audit during a year so as to determine the shares of the stockholders. But no audit has been yet carried out. According to a study made in 2005, Moldova should hold 65% of the shares of Moldovagaz, not 35% as now.