Moldova appoints new energy minister

CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova's President Maia Sandu has appointed gas sector expert Dorin Dzungietu as the new energy minister and he was sworn in at the presidential office on Wednesday morning.

Junghietu succeeded Viktor Parlicov, who was sacked in December for failing to prepare for the possible cessation of gas supplies to Moldova's separatist Transdniestria region due to Ukraine's refusal to extend its transit deal with Russia.

"We have to increase the energy security of our state so that Moldovan citizens are not blackmailed by anyone else," Sandu said.

Sandu in December accused Gazprom of provoking an energy crisis in Moldova, saying the Russian energy giant was refusing to supply gas through an alternative route.

Russian gas flows to Transdniestria via Ukraine stopped at the start of January and the region's residents suffered daily rolling blackouts of four to five hours throughout the month of January as gas remaining in the region's pipelines ran out.

After more than a month without gas, the pro-Russian region began receiving the fuel, first with the help of the European Union and then a Russian loan.

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, writing by Pavel Polityuk, editing by Angus MacSwan)