“Hostages of MGRES”: Where Russia’s PMR makes money, Ukraine faces environmental problems and Moldova faces energy blackmail
Thermal power stations often become sources of environmental pollution. The Moldavskaya GRES thermal power station operates in the part of Moldova occupied by Russia since 1992, in the so-called Transnistrian People’s Republic. It is the largest in Europe.
But Ukrainian villages suffer from the operation of the combined heat and power plant in the PMR: Lymanske and Kuchurhan are at risk of flooding, while Hradenytsi suffers from undisposed-of toxic waste. The contaminated land on Ukrainian territory covers around 130 hectares.
Ukrainian communities are also forced to spend budget funds continuously on what is, in essence, supporting MGRES’s technical operating cycle.
Meanwhile, Moldova depends for its energy on the operation of the thermal power station in Transnistria. In effect, it depends on the separatist regime in the PMR, backed by the Kremlin’s leaders. MGRES is owned by a Russian company headed by Boris Kovalchuk, a sanctioned close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
For a time, MGRES even exported electricity to the EU, circumventing sanctions by registering the company in Chișinău.
Thus, while MGRES makes money and replenishes the budget of unrecognised Transnistria, Ukraine faces environmental problems and Moldova is critically dependent on the separatists and their Kremlin henchmen.
The civic organisation “Zelenyi Lyst” together with journalists from Moldova’s TV8 produced an investigative film about MGRES.
The documentary was produced with the support of Journalismfund.