New Delhi, July 22 -- Moldova faces a security crisis, Prime Minister Dorin Recean said Friday, after its separatist pro-Moscow Transdniestria region, cut off from supplies of Russian gas, closed factories, restricted central heating and imposed rolling power blackouts.

Flows of Russian gas via Ukraine to central and eastern Europe were halted on New Year's Day after a transit agreement between the warring countries expired and Kyiv rejected doing further business with Moscow.

Recean said government-controlled Moldova would cover its own energy needs with domestic production and imports but noted the separatist Transdniestria region had suffered a painful hit despite its ties with Moscow.

"By jeopardizing the future of the protectorate...