Pipes of the national gas distribution network in MoldovaCHISINAU, Jan 29On Saturday, activists of the opposition Civic Congress party held a protest in front of the Moldovan Parliament due to an increase in gas and heating tariffs, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports. up to 785 dollars per thousand cubic meters. It was also decided to raise the tariff for heating, a gigacalorie became more expensive by $22. Both decisions came into force retroactively from January 1, the opposition intends to challenge the decision of the ANRE in court. from January 1. Today, the activists of the «Civil Congress» are starting a protest at the parliament. This is just the beginning. Only in order to awaken the political conscience of the rest of the dormant opposition,» party leader Mark Tkachuk said. Together with his supporters on Saturday afternoon, they gathered in front of the parliament building with posters calling on the authorities to stop Energomor. The protesters launched black balloons into the sky, to which they attached posters with the inscriptions «Let's give gas to the regime!». The protesters explained that the new tariffs were illegal and people would simply not be able to pay for them.The President of Moldova called the condition for buying gas from another supplier. After that, the activists moved to the government building, located next door, briefly blocking traffic on one of the central streets of Chisinau. There they repeated their demands to cancel the increase in tariffs for utilities and peacefully dispersed. «Gazprom» and «Moldovagaz» on October 29, after lengthy negotiations, extended the contract for the supply of gas for a period of 5 years, starting from November 1. «Gazprom» said that, taking into account the situation in Moldova, it was decided to sign the contract practically on the terms of the Moldovan side, but subject to timely 100% payment of current payments. In November, the republic had problems with the transfer of payments on time, a delay was needed. In January, «Moldovagaz» again faced difficulties in repaying the payment to «Gazprom», the parliament introduced a state of emergency for 60 days. The representative of «Gazprom» Sergey Kupriyanov expressed fears that the crisis of non-payments may repeat in the future.
