Breakaway Moldovan region says it received gas supplies backed by Russian loan

KYIV (Reuters) - Moldova's pro-Russian breakaway Transdniestria region started receiving gas supplies under a loan provided by Moscow, separatist authorities said on Friday.

Transdniestrian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky said in a statement on Telegram that gas deliveries were possible due to Russian loan assistance and cooperation with Russia's Ministry of Energy.

Russian gas flows to Transdniestria via Ukraine stopped at the start of January when Ukraine refused to extend a transit agreement.

Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said earlier this month that his country would not block the gas flows under an arrangement involving Hungary's MET Gas and Energy Marketing AG.

Tens of thousands residents of Transdniestria, a sliver of territory run by pro-Russian separatists along Moldova's border with Ukraine, were plunged into energy crisis on January 1 when shipments of Russian natural gas stopped.

(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Susan Fenton)