By Iulian Ernst in Bucharest The president of the unrecognised separatist Transnistria region in Moldova, Vadim Krasnoselsky, held talks in Moscow on January 14 on overcoming the energy crisis, the head of state's press secretary Denis Podgorny reported.

The crisis prompted a question: will the breakaway region, occupied by Russia since 1992, survive without Russian gas? Free-of-charge Russian gas had been the backbone of Transnistria's economy and ensured the preservation of the breakaway region and its de facto independence from Moldova.

A humanitarian catastrophe is looming for the 367,000 inhabitants of Transnistria, a region of Moldova living under pro-Russian separatist control. Counting on rising discontent in both Transnistria and Moldova ahead of the parliamentary elections,

Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region expects to receive Russian gas again soon to meet its needs, its leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said on Wednesday, two weeks into crippling power cuts in the Russian-backed enclave.