Russia Pledges More Financial Aid to Transnistria

Russia has promised further financial aid to Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region, which has long depended on the Kremlin for survival.

During a visit of Transnistria leader Vadim Krasnoselky to Moscow on Saturday, Russian Vice-Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin promised further implementation of "humanitarian and cultural" projects that Russia says it is conducting in the region.

The size of the fresh loans and aid has not been revealed. However, Moldova media reports say the money is needed to keep the regional economy going and cover the cost of pensions and other social programmes.

According to a press release from the Transnistria capital, Tiraspol, Krasnoselsky and Rogozin also discussed a possible settlement to the years-long dispute with Moldova and the four agreements signed in November 2017 in Vienna.

These refer to farmers' access to agricultural land, the restoration of mobile phones lines with Moldova, Romanian-language education in the mainly Russian-speaking region, and recognition of diplomas issued by educational institutions in the region.

While Russia calls itself a mediator in the conflict, it is no secret that Moscow sustains the separatist regime in Tiraspol for its own strategic reasons, and that nothing moves politically in Transnistria without Russia's prior approval.

Besides money, Russia provides natural gas for Transnistria. Since 2006, Transnistria has not paid for Russian natural gas; the debt for the energy accumulates instead in Chisinau.

By 2017, Moldova owed Russian energy giant Gazprom as much as 6.5 billion US dollars - about 5.8 billion of which was for Transnistria.

Authorities in Chisinau have struggled in vain to split this debt, but Gazprom has refused to accept that idea.