(Reuters) - Moldovan President Maia Sandu visited areas hit by rolling power cuts on Thursday and blamed Russian gas giant Gazprom for the energy crisis gripping the country's Transdniestria pro-Russian separatist enclave. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moldova and Ukraine were responsible for the heating and power shortages.

Ukrainian transit gas deal to Europe ended on Jan. 1. For now, the most acute effects are being felt in a region called Transnistria, on the eastern edge of Moldova.

By Iulian Ernst in Bucharest Moldova will certainly not provide free gas to separatist Transnistria region, government spokesperson Daniel Voda said on January 8 at one of the press conferences held daily since Gazprom cut gas supplies on January 1.

Moscow blames Ukraine and Moldova for halting supplies; Chisinau suspects Russia seeks to influence upcoming election.

Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom says it will halt gas supplies to Moldova starting on Jan. 1, citing alleged unpaid debt by the east European country.

The move was connected with, but not required by, the expiration at the end of 2024 of Russia’s contract with Ukraine for transit of natural gas to Europe. The looming energy crisis is likely to have a strong negative effect on Moldova’s ruling pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) in parliamentary elections due in the second half of 2025.

The head of Moldova’s breakaway region Transnistria has urged residents to burn firewood for heating and warned that blackouts cannot be avoided, after Moscow stopped supplying gas via Ukraine.

Moldova has not received any gas from Russia since Jan. 1, aleaving many homes uncomfortably cold. This hits the pro-Russian separatists in Transnistria the hardest, but it also puts the government in Chișinău under pressure.

More than 51,000 households were left without gas and 1,500 apartment buildings had no winter heat in Moldova's pro-Russian separatist enclave, authorities said on Monday, as Moldova and Russia traded blame for an escalating energy crisis.

The end of Russian natural-gas transit across Ukraine is a blow to Moscow, but it could provide the Kremlin with sharpened tool for economic and political influence over a key target country: Moldova.

"Russian propaganda tries to create a story in which Moldova becomes a ‘problematic actor,’ although the government has proposed clear solutions to avoid the crisis," Moldovan government spokesperson Daniel Voda said on Jan.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Wednesday discussed using Ukrainian coal to ease the energy crisis which has subjected Moldova's separatist Transdniestria region to blackouts and a heating shortage.