Gazprom will cease supplying natural gas to the Moldovan company Moldovagaz, which "will leave pro-Russian Transnistria in the cold," reports "Gazeta Wyborcza" on Tuesday. The energy crisis will pose a challenge for Chisinau during the year of parliamentary elections.

Russian energy giant Gazprom is set to stop gas flow to Europe via Ukraine as a key transit deal expires, severing a major link in Europe’s once-dependent energy supply chain. Europe has shifted to alternative energy sources from the U.

Russia’s Gazprom PJSC will halt natural gas supplies to Moldova starting on Jan. 1 due to an alleged debt impasse amid a state of emergency in the Eastern European nation’s energy sector.