Moldovan president visits area hit by blackouts, blames Russia's Gazprom

(Reuters) - Moldovan President Maia Sandu visited areas hit by rolling power cuts on Thursday and blamed Russian gas giant Gazprom for the energy crisis gripping the country's Transdniestria pro-Russian separatist enclave.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moldova and Ukraine were responsible for the heating and power shortages.

The foreign minister of Finland met with officials in both government-controlled Moldova and the separatist enclave and pledged to help both sides achieve a settlement.

Transdniestria, which has existed alongside Moldova for more than 30 years, is no longer receiving Russian gas after Ukraine refused to extend a gas transit agreement beyond the New Year.

Sandu, who has led her ex-Soviet state's drive to join the European Union, visited Varnita, one of 14 villages located in an area controlled by Moldova's government but supplied with power by the separatist enclave.

"We understand that these people are going through hard times. But people should know that these are problems created by Gazprom," Sandu said.

"The problem is not Ukraine halting transit of Russian gas. There is an alternative route, through (Turkey). But Gazprom has decided not to supply gas any longer."

Moldova accuses Moscow of trying to destabilise its government ahead of this year's parliamentary elections.

In Moscow, Peskov decried the "true crisis" in the region which has long been a recipient of vital Russian gas.

"As a result of the decision by Ukraine and the Moldovan authorities Trasdniestria no longer has this chance," he said.

Officials in Transdniestria said blackouts would be reduced from eight hours a day to five from Friday ahead of a weekend cold snap sending temperatures below zero Celsius.

The region's foreign minister, Vitaly Ignatev, told Russian television a solution had to be found "as quickly as possible" by restoring gas flows through Ukraine or routing them through the Turkstream pipeline via Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.

Gazprom has said any shipment of gas through Turkey was dependent on settling what it describes as $709 million in Moldovan arrears. Moldova contests the figure.

Gas supplies would keep in operation a thermal plant which supplies electricity to Transdniestria as well as providing most of the power used in areas of Moldova under government control.

Ignatiev dismissed any notion that Moldova had offered to help the region. Both Sandu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday they were discussing the option of supplying Ukrainian coal to keep the power plant running.

Transdniestria split from Moldova near the end of Soviet rule and fought a brief war with the newly independent state in 1992. Efforts to resolve the dispute have made little headway.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen is current chair of the 57-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has long spearheaded diplomatic attempts.

Valtonen told reporters in Chisinau that Finland would focus on encouraging dialogue between the two sides.

(Reporting by Alexnder Tanas, Writing by Ron Popeski, editing by Deepa Babington)