Russia's gas supply is expected to stop in Moldova, which is in a state in

On Friday, Moldova declared a  60-day national state of  emergency, expecting  gas supplies through the Russian pipeline to  be cut off by January 1,  2025.

The country's parliament, which currently receives Russian gas via Ukraine, approved overnight Prime Minister Dorin  Recean's proposal to declare a state of emergency, which  will take effect on December  16.
Moldova is trying to  push back Russian influence in the breakaway  region of Transnistria, a narrow strip of land between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian  border that is not recognized by the international  community.
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But from 2022,  Transnistria and the central government of Moldova have agreed that all natural gas sent by Russian giant Gazprom to Moldova  will flow through Transnistria.
The vote to declare a state of emergency is a  way to end  Russia's "gas blackmail," according to  Moldovan Prime Minister Recean. "This should be the last winter in the  country's history  during which we  could be threatened with  power outages," the prime minister  added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants to leave the population of  Transnistria without gas and electricity and hold them hostage. Moscow is doing this to destabilize the situation in Moldova,"  Recean was quoted as  saying by Reuters.
Late last month, Moldova and  Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller discussed alternative routes for  supplying natural gas to the  Transnistrian region if transit through Ukraine is  disrupted.
Gazprom said, however, that deliveries via alternative routes to Moldova would be  tied to Moldova paying its outstanding debts for past  deliveries. According to Russia, this debt is  about 709 million dollars.
Meanwhile, supplies of Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine  have been halted, three weeks before the  agreement for gas  transit through Ukrainian territory expires on December  31.
The volumes  that Gazprom  sends to Europe via Ukraine have been more or less  stable since the Russian  company cut off  supplies to  Austria's OMV in  mid-November.