Shivers in Transnistria
How are Transnistrians dealing with a winter without gas? The gun situation in Montenegro keeps everyone worried, the Romanian elections have a new date and the OnlyFans saga continues in Slovenia.
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We hope you’re refreshed after some time off. This is Balkan Brew, the newsletter that delivers the freshest news from the Balkans straight to your email box every Friday morning.
We suddenly felt a bit old when we realized that celebrations for the day of Republika Srpska, in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb entity, turned 10 yesterday, along with all the usual back and forth from local politicians. Local media did some digging and found that RS authorities spent around 2 mln EUR over the past decade to mark their unconstitutional holiday.
This week, we’ll take you to the freezing depths of winter in Transnistria, discuss firearms control in Montenegro, and dive into Romania’s tentative date for repeating presidential elections. Also: do you know what freedom tastes like?
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Shivers in Transnistria
You might think winter is tough, but right now, it is absolutely miserable in Transnistria, Moldova’s breakaway region. Tens of thousands of households have been left without gas and heating since 1 January after the supply of Russian gas was cut.
GETTING DARKER. Transnistria is, quite literally, frozen. Companies and public offices have stopped working, and school holidays have been extended until January 20. With insufficient electricity production to meet its needs, local authorities have also imposed blackouts lasting up to eight hours per day.
PLAY IT AGAIN. Despite the dire situation, the military orchestra performed two consecutive New Year’s concerts on January 5 at the Palace of the Republic in Tiraspol, Transnistria’s main city — complete with lights and a sound system.
LASHING OUT ON TIKTOK. How are residents reacting? Finding some Transnistrian voices is not easy: some, however, are turning to TikTok to share their experience. While some express anger at their government, others seem to remain loyal to Russia.
SOME BACKGROUND. Transnistria is dependent on Russian gas, which was previously delivered through Ukraine. On January 1, however, Russia’s state energy firm Gazprom ceased gas exports to the region after the long-term transit agreement with Ukraine expired.
TY BUT NO, TY. Politico reports that authorities in Transnistria have repeatedly refused energy supplies and humanitarian aid from Moldova.
New year, same tragedies
The mass shooting that left 12 dead in Montenegro on January 3, 2025, was described as “one of the biggest tragedies in the history of Montenegro” by Police Commissioner Lazar Šćepanović. What began as a bar brawl quickly escalated into chaos on the streets of Cetinje before the gunman, Aco Martinović, was fatally shot by police.
A TRAGIC RECURRENCE. The massacre is a grim echo of another one in August 2022, also in Cetinje, when 10 people were killed before the shooter was taken down by a passerby. In both 2022 and 2024, children were among the victims.
KNOWN SUSPECTS. Both shooters were already known to authorities for prior acts of violence and possession of illegal firearms.
CASSANDRAS. Between these tragedies, calls for stricter gun control were ignored, writes RFE/RSE. Instead, the number of legally owned firearms rose from 67,545 in 2022 to 69,593 in 2024.
AN UNFORTUNATE RECORD. Montenegro and Serbia hold the highest rates of small firearms ownership in Europe, with 39.1 guns per 100 people as of 2018. Cyprus follows at 34 per 100. Despite these high figures, they remain far below the USA’s staggering 120 guns per 100 citizens.
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE. After the January 3 shooting, the government passed a new law that will require re-verification of the licenses of those who have legal weapons and draconian penalties for those who do not return illegal weapons within the next two months. But many doubt it will result in tangible change without other broader measures.
A fresh start?
The newly appointed government of Romania, sworn in on December 23, has set the dates for the repetition of the Presidential election. The first round will take place on May 4, with the runoff scheduled for May 18.
GET READY. Nobody really knows at this point who the candidates might be. However, Elena Lasconi — who was set to face pro-Russian, populist candidate Călin Georgescu before Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the original elections — has confirmed she will run again.
GOING STRONG. Georgescu remains a significant contender. According to a recent poll, 40% of respondents indicated they would vote for him as President.
ALL BETS ARE OFF. The question on everyone’s mind is: will Georgescu be allowed to run again? We don’t know the answer yet, but in the meantime, Georgescu has filed a complaint to the European Court for Human Rights against the Constitutional Court's decision to repeat the Presidential elections.
IN OTHER NEWS.
An Albanian from North Macedonia is among those who received senior military positions under Syria’s new rule.
It’s been three months since the rock avalanche that killed 18 residents in Donja Jablanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but there are still no signs of any official investigations.
2024 will probably be the year with the highest number of femicides recorded in Turkey since 2010, according to BBC Turkey.
AND FINALLY. The OnlyFans saga in Slovenia continues. Despite the attempts of the government to gently nudge the spicy platform’s creators to declare any past untaxed income (more here), only three people did so. The others are betting that the government announcement was a bluff. We’ll see soon enough.
TASTE FREEDOM. How does it feel to travel without the restrictions of a visa for the first time? A young author from Kosovo describes her first flight after the new visa liberalization deal with the EU was implemented on January 1, 2024.
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It’s great to be back! See you next week, and stay free.
BB