Unrecognized Transnistria announced its readiness to purchase natural gas through the Moldovan company Moldovagaz. Tiraspol allegedly notified Chisinau of this

The separatist Moldovan region of Transnistria has agreed to purchase natural gas from Moldovagaz to address its ongoing energy crisis, the region’s Moscow-backed leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said Monday.

The crisis prompted a question: will the breakaway region, occupied by Russia since 1992, survive without Russian gas? Free-of-charge Russian gas had been the backbone of Transnistria's economy and ensured the preservation of the breakaway region and its de facto independence from Moldova.

A humanitarian catastrophe is looming for the 367,000 inhabitants of Transnistria, a region of Moldova living under pro-Russian separatist control. Counting on rising discontent in both Transnistria and Moldova ahead of the parliamentary elections,

The leader of breakaway Transnistria said Monday his government was ready to buy gas from Moldova, more than two weeks after a halt in Russian supplies plunged his region

Moldova's president, Maia Sandu, has declared gas supplies from Russia to Transnistria illegal, claiming they violate international sanctions. Sandu emphasizes that deliveries through intermediaries are against Moldovan law.