Moldova launches new power line to Romania to cut reliance on Russia

Moldova has officially launched a new power line connecting the country to neighbouring Romania and the European grid to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

“For decades, Moscow used energy to blackmail us,” Moldovan President Maia Sandu said on X on Sunday.

“No more: Moldova buys zero Russian gas,” she added.

Moldova, a country of 2.6 million people wedged between Romania and Ukraine, received most of its gas from Russia via its pro-Moscow separatist region of Transnistria and pipelines running through Ukraine.

“Thanks to this project, we are strengthening our electricity transmission capacity, diversifying our means of supply and reinforcing the connection of the Republic of Moldova to the European energy system,” Sandu said during the power line’s inauguration ceremony on Sunday in the capital, Chisinau.

She also said that “two more power lines to Romania are on the way”.

European Commissioner for Energy Marta Kos, who was at the ceremony, said Moldova could now “buy energy where it is cheapest”.

The 400-kilowatt extra-high-voltage line, which runs from the city of Vulcanesti to Chisinau, allows Moldova to cut reliance on the Cuciurgan thermal power plant in Transnistria.

“Every time Moldova dares to choose something other than what Moscow wants, they threaten to cut our electricity,” said Sandu.

Dubbed the “energy independence line”, the power grid was launched two years after the date Moldovan authorities initially promised.

Last month, Moldova’s parliament approved a government-requested state of emergency until November 20 as it tries to ease gas shortages amid soaring world energy prices.

Some in Europe have blamed Moscow for the skyrocketing gas prices, accusing it of withholding additional supplies to put pressure on the continent.

European-aligned states in the Black Sea region say they are experiencing renewed attacks allegedly carried out by Russia.

Last month, Romania blamed Russia for a drone strike that sank a cargo ship off Romania’s Black Sea coast, killing one crew member and leaving three others missing.

Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria have called on NATO to “fast-track the additional surveillance capabilities” to protect commercial shipping in the Black Sea, as fighting in Russia’s war on Ukraine escalates.

NATO said it would send more maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems and drones to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Black Sea.