Member of the Federation Council Alexei Pushkov. File photoMOSCOW, March 18Senator Alexei Pushkov criticized on Telegram Moldova's proposal to postpone the payment of debts for consumed Russian gas and called for weaning Chisinau «to ask and demand at the same time». «Moldovagaz», therefore, risks being left without Russian gas supplies in May if Gazprom does not agree to postpone the deadline. According to a member of the Federation Council, this position is not compatible with the call of the President of the country, Maia Sandu, voiced the day before, to withdraw the Russian military from the territory of Transnistria. » How can we wean Chisinau from asking and demanding at the same time? It's time to point out to them that one is incompatible with the other, «Pushkov said. In October, the Moldovan authorities agreed with Gazprom to extend the contract for gas supplies to the republic, subject to an audit of the debt of the Moldovagaz company in 2022. On January 27, the Public Services Agency of Moldova placed an application to search for a company to conduct a debt audit. «Gazprom» said that the unilateral approach of the Moldovan side to the audit of the debt «Moldovagaz» runs counter to the October agreements. Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilitsa said that the audit failed, including because of the events in Ukraine, as many companies refused to come. Transnistria, 60 percent of whose inhabitants are Russians and Ukrainians, sought to secede from Moldova even before the collapse of the USSR, fearing that on the wave of nationalism, this republic will join Romania. In 1992, after Chisinau's failed attempt to solve the problem by force, the Transnistrian Republic became virtually a territory beyond its control. In Transnistria, there is the Operational Group of Russian Forces (OGRF), the successor to the 14th Combined Arms Army, which was transferred under the jurisdiction of Russia after the collapse of the USSR. Its main tasks are a peacekeeping mission and the protection of ammunition depots.
