Interview with the PMR President
Violetta Ganina, First Pridnestrovian:
Vadim Nikolaevich, please tell us the history of the issue. How did it all start? We knew that there could be problems with supplies. Why is the situation developing this way?
The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky:
Yes, we can once again focus on the true reasons for this entire crisis. I highlight two reasons: political and economic, let's say, financial.
The political reason is that Moldova is simply ignoring the negotiation process with Pridnestrovie. The negotiation process is not working, everything is frozen in fact: both the "5+2" format and all the "1+1" meetings. I am convinced that if President Sandu, the President of Moldova, had deigned to communicate at least once, half of the problems would have been solved immediately. I am convinced that this person simply does not have the full volume of information. Well, the second reason (economic, financial) is the incorrect relations of Moldovagaz with Gazprom, which led to such a development of events. Regarding the development of events. Moldovagaz sent a notice to Tiraspoltransgaz on December 28 last year. The essence of this notice was that Moldovagaz had completely excluded gas supplies to Pridnestrovie. Moldovagaz did not offer as a further supplier and did not offer anything at all at the same time. We do not supply – period. Do what you want. Moldovagaz repeatedly said in verbal conversations and in its, so to speak, comments, interviews, buy where you want, on some sites, and so on. This was. We took advantage of this information message and began to work. We found an enterprise that had a license issued by the Moldovan government (or whatever body issues licenses – it doesn’t matter) at the end of December, literally the next day. They also had a license for gas transit through European countries. We formed the opinion that since Moldovan officials were offering this, we could contact this organization and sign a contract. We guarantee payment on our part.
We saw fierce resistance from all Moldovan officials, including the President, the Prime Minister, and other officials, including Chaban, who runs Moldovagaz when we named this company. They simply became an insurmountable wall to the possible supply of gas to Pridnestrovie. Although, I am saying again that no one objected to the supply of gas to Pridnestrovie by any means.
I would like to remind you that on January 9, we had a meeting with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, who conveyed to us a message from the Moldovan leadership that Moldova is ready to let gas through to Pridnestrovie at the same time – any, Russian, any. Considering the fierce resistance and reluctance to supply through this intermediary, on January 18, we contacted Moldovagaz on the part of Tiraspoltransgaz and stated that we do not object to gas supplies to Pridnestrovie from Moldovagaz. By the way, this position was stated by the President of Moldova, saying that the taps are open, the pipe is open, Moldova will supply gas. Naturally, as the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, I confirmed this intention of the Pridnestrovian side to accept gas from Moldovagaz. By and large, what should they have done? They should have found a site where they could buy this gas, offer it to us and supply gas to Pridnestrovie. We guaranteed payment. Please, pay attention to what is happening. "Talking heads" suddenly started speaking in the person of the speakers of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Moldova, the government, and Serebrian after our statements and the actual exposure of Moldova's position, which prevents gas supplies to Pridnestrovie. Dear "talking heads", I want to address you. You are sowing only lies in the hope of sowing panic. Of course, it is difficult for us, but do not lie, do not intrigue, do not mislead. Serebrian has gone so far as to say that Russia does not want to supply gas to Pridnestrovie. This is not true, it is a lie. Russia is doing everything to ensure that gas reaches Pridnestrovie. This is a fact. Moldovagaz must work now.
Dear gentlemen, our statement that we agree to your formulas, that Russia agrees to your formulas for gas supplies to Pridnestrovie via Moldovagaz, was made on the 18th of January. Today is the 23rd of January. You have been doing nothing for five days. What can be done in an hour, they do in a day, in two. What can be done in a day, they do in ten days. They deliberately delay all processes. This is a fact, it is obvious. The "talking heads" sow doubts, push some combinations, and their leaders say otherwise and agree differently at the same time. Dear Mrs. Sandu, I would like to address you. You are telling a very interesting story about your readiness to supply gas to Pridnestrovie. You are telling an interesting story about an open pipe, although you do not know where it is, its capabilities. You are telling an interesting story about Moldova not interfering. I am telling you openly: Moldova is interfering with gas supplies to Pridnestrovie. We have a real critical situation because of you. You discriminate against Pridnestrovian citizens in terms of heat and electricity supply. Are you afraid of your electorate? Do you think that this is a retreat from some of your ideas? You are trying to put pressure on Pridnestrovie in this way, but for some reason you are not afraid of one thing – you are not afraid of the suffering of people here in Pridnestrovie, the suffering of women, old people, the population, those who need social protection. You are not afraid that people are dying because of your actions. It is strange that you are not afraid of this. You are afraid of your electorate, you are afraid of losing an extra vote, but you are not afraid of the death of people here in Pridnestrovie. This is strange, this is very strange. Dear Mrs. Sandu, you cannot build happiness on someone else's grief, on someone else's suffering, you cannot earn dividends. All this is punishable, do you understand? Maybe not by human judgment, but by God's – a thousand percent. I have no doubt about that.
Come to your senses, gentlemen, Moldovan politicians. Stop intriguing and speculating. Russia has done everything to supply gas here. This gas will be purchased on European sites. You know perfectly well that Moldovagaz is supposedly conducting these negotiations. There are suppliers who have been agreed upon with you. Don't mislead people. Of course, we guarantee payment. It depends on you in terms of gas supplies to Pridnestrovie.
There is one more speculative topic that needs to be addressed. The "talking head" Serebrian said that Ukraine and Moldova offered coal for the station. Don't mislead people. The coal that Ukraine offered is gas coal. It is not suitable for our station according to its technical characteristics. Everyone knows this very well. If you don't believe me, ask the experts. There are none in Moldova, ask the Ukrainian experts – those who operate such stations. The coal that was officially offered to help Pridnestrovie is not suitable for the hydroelectric power station in Dnestrovsk. The hydroelectric power station in Dnestrovsk consumes anthracite only. This coal was not offered. Only gas coal was offered, and it is not suitable for the production capacities of the Kuchurgany, or Dnestrovsk station, as it is called by different names. Therefore, do not mislead people. No assistance was offered to us, no one is offering this assistance. In addition to the appeal to Ms. Sandu, I instructed today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pridnestrovie to prepare information messages to the United Nations, the UN Security Council, all participants in the "5+2" format, and the Red Cross. These are statements about discrimination, attempts to profit from the misfortune of Pridnestrovie, attempts to squeeze everything possible out of this situation, to earn some dividends for the Moldovan authorities. This was before, this is still the case. Nothing has changed. Dear Western politicians, do not act as advocates for the Moldovan authorities. People are suffering. You can't experiment on people. I don't advise you to do that. Do everything possible to get gas to Pridnestrovie. Especially for money. Not free gas, but for money.
Violetta Ganina, First Pridnestrovian:
Vadim Nikolaevich, we sent the letter a week ago. People continue to freeze. Moldova pretends that they allegedly want to help us. They are disrupting the dialogue in reality, not communicating. But the media reports that there is some option to deliver gas to Pridnestrovie on February 1. This is the main question that interests everyone. Will there be gas in Pridnestrovie, when, how, is it even possible in the conditions when Moldova is categorically disrupting the dialogue and not resolving the issue of gas supplies?
The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky:
February 1, February 2, February 3 – these are all speculations. In reality, Moldova can deliver gas to Pridnestrovie today, tomorrow at the latest – if it wants to do so. They know all these scenarios, all these layouts, all these algorithms very well.
In fact, the gas was supposed to be delivered to Pridnestrovie on the 20th, maximum the 21st, but today is the 23rd of January. They did everything in Moldova to deliberately drag out the situation, so that this would not happen, deliberately dragging out the humanitarian crisis in Pridnestrovie. These so-called dates – by and large, people come to certain conclusions due to their ignorance. The gas should have already been in Pridnestrovie, if not for the resistance of the Moldovan authorities.
What to do? We have already done everything possible on our part. We are going to compromise. Moldovagaz, please. Anything. We went to Moscow to negotiate. What to do next? Should we just wait? Is it possible to somehow influence Moldova? Valtonen promised, but – silence. Gas supplies are being blocked, and we see that there is no reaction. What should we do and what to expect?
Svetlana Tsvetkova, TSV:
Pridnestrovie is using all political and diplomatic methods to change the situation and reach the mind of the Moldovan authorities, and force these authorities to a normal decision that they promised. This is gas supplies to Pridnestrovie. Unfortunately, we have no other methods. There is a station that provided this missing volume of kilowatt/hours at the time of crisis. Tirotex-Energo did it, right?
The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky:
Yes, Tirotex-Energo has a very important function in the energy supply system, energy security of Pridnestrovie. This enterprise has good capacity and good prospects for the future. We still want to create the opportunity, but this requires both costs and design solutions. We need to talk more about costs so that Tirotex-Energo, in addition to electricity, could also produce heat, with which entire districts of Tiraspol could be heated. We will definitely think about this topic, work will be carried out and there will be a result in this part, but all this will require a certain segment – both time and financial, of course.
Svetlana Tsvetkova, TSV:
Gas is needed for this, right?
The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky:
Gas is needed in any case. Pridnestrovie is 97% gasified. We have gas boiler houses. Coal is not a way out of the situation. Coal is processed into electricity. Only the coal that meets GOST standards for a given station. I have already spoken about this. Coal is needed, of course. We will think about how to replenish its reserves, but gas is needed.
