Talks with breakaway region fail to ease Moldova energy woes

By STEPHEN McGRATH and CRISTIAN JARDAN
Associated Press

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — A key electrical power plant in a Moscow-backed breakaway region of Moldova will not resume energy supplies to the rest of the country after officials failed to reach any agreements on Friday amid an acute energy crisis, authorities said. The meetings held Friday between Moldovan officials and de-facto authorities from Transnistria took place in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, and focussed on a range of bilateral issues raising hopes of easing a severe energy crisis for Moldova, Europe’s poorest country.  But the talks did not yield any solutions including resuming electricity supplies, Vitaly Ignatyev, the unrecognized government’s foreign minister, told reporters.