Russia's "Gazprom" threatens to cut off gas supplies to Moldova What is the reason?

After Moldova and Russia's "Gazprom" reached an agreement to supply gas to the former Soviet republic, Gazprom announced the termination of the agreement again.

Russian gas giant Gazprom announced Monday that it will cut off gas to Moldova within 48 hours, if it does not pay for supplies that were agreed upon last month, a company spokesman said in a statement to Russian television.

And the company's spokesman, Sergei Kupriyanov, announced that "the deadline for making the current payments expires on November 22, i.e. today."

He continued, "Gazprom informed the Moldovan side that gas supplies to Moldova will stop within 48 hours, as stipulated in the agreement."

Moldova and Gazprom had reached an extension of an agreement to supply the former Soviet republic with gas at the end of last month.

The two parties reached the agreement after a sharp debate, during which Chisinau declared a state of emergency against the backdrop of the shortage of gas supplies, and for the first time signed an agreement to obtain gas from outside Russia.

On October 29, the two sides announced that they had agreed to extend a previous agreement for five years, with handovers to begin on November 1.

Kupriyanov said that Gazprom signed a contract "under the conditions of the Moldavian side in practice", but with one condition that "Moldova will pay one percent of its payments on the due date."

He expressed "great disappointment" to Gazprom over "Moldova's failure to fulfill its obligations under the contract."

The two parties reached the agreement after talks in St. Petersburg between Moldavian Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spino and CEO of the Russian company Alexei Miller.

Moldova, located between Romania and Ukraine, receives gas from Russia through Ukraine and the breakaway region of Transnistria, a pro-Russian region.