In Moscow's crosshairs: Moldova looks east and west to stay warm this winter

Moldova is facing a major energy crisis. Electricity supply from Ukraine has been interrupted since Russian forces stepped up attacks on Ukrainian power plants and energy infrastructure. The Russian gas giant Gazprom has reduced gas deliveries to Moldova. Now, blackouts are increasingly frequent. 

Moscow is using energy as a weapon to destabilise the country. Indeed, residents have taken to the streets in the capital Chisinau, calling for the pro-European government to resign.

“Certain political parties in Moldova have been financed through the Russian intelligence services”, said Veronica Dragalin, Moldova's anti-corruption chief prosecutor. 

Dragalin told Euronews that investigators had found twenty black bags with the equivalent of around €200,000 in cash. 

They claim that is evidence that the demonstrations are financed by the Moscow-influenced Șor party. Its leader, the populist oligarch Ilan Șor, is on the run. He is accused to be part of a one-billion-dollar bank fraud.

The president of the Orhei District, Dinu Turcanu, and member of the Șor Party, is the alleged organiser of the protests. 

“Ilan Șor said publicly, that this money should have been used to cover certain expenses of the party and of those people that went demonstrating", he told Euronews. "There is nothing illegal about it”, he claims.

Moldova turns to Europe to diversify its electricity and gas supply

Moldova’s energy dependency on Russia dates back to the Soviet era. However, governments have been trying over the years to diversify the country’s energy supplies. 

A new gas pipeline coming from Romania has made Moldova less dependent. There are also plans to build several overhead power lines towards western Europe. 

Andrei Spînu, one of Moldova's deputy