President: Moldova will defy Russian pressure, stay pro-West

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — President Maia Sandu of Moldova pledged Tuesday to keep her country on a pro-Western course and as a firm supporter of Ukraine despite struggling under pressure of what she called Russia’s energy and political “blackmail.”

“I want everyone to know that Moldova choses to be free and continue on its European path no matter what the circumstances,” Sandu told Romania's Parliament while visiting the European Union member country.

“We are willing to pay the price of our freedom,” she added.

Moldova is entirely dependent on Russia for its natural gas. As Sandu addressed Romanian lawmakers, the country's breakaway Trans-Dniester region stopped supplying the rest of Moldova with electricity.

The Moscow-backed separatist region is home to Moldova’s largest gas-operated power station, which supplies about 70% of the country’s electricity needs.

The power supply interruption followed a Monday announcement from Moldova’s infrastructure minister, Andrei Spinu, that the state power company, Energocom, had failed to sign a November contract with the plant due to a 40% cut in deliveries of Russian natural gas.

Spinu said Russian gas giant Gazprom agreed to supply Moldova with 5.7 million cubic meters of gas per day, just 51% of what the country needs to provide electricity for its 2.6 million people.

Russia has used impoverished Moldova’s dependence on its gas to pressure the country over its alignment with the West, including the condemnation of the war in Ukraine. Household energy tariffs have gone up six-fold in the last year.

Gazprom has repeatedly threatened to cut off the former Soviet republic’s pipelines altogether. Moldova became a candidate for European Union membership in June, at the same time as neighboring Ukraine did.

“Providing electricity...