Vladimir Putin has been accused of manufacturing an energy crisis in a breakaway region of Moldova to create instability and exert pressure on Ukraine.

       Transnistria broke away from the country in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

       The region has close links with Russia and is home to 1,000 Russian troops who are currently based in the area.

       Since January 1, hundreds of thousands of people have been left without heating and hot water after Russia’s state energy firm Gazprom ended gas exports to the region when a long-term agreement to transit gas through neighbouring Ukraine ended.

       Moldova’s Prime Minister Dorin Recean has accused local authorities of exploiting the issue to ferment instability, claiming that offers of assistance from his government have been ignored.

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       He said: "This is a security crisis that Russia, through weaponisation of energy, is trying to induce in the region.

       "They halted the gas supply to the region that they control, including through the fact that they have illegally stationed military troops there and they do not allow anyone to help the region."

       Recean added that he believed that the crisis could ultimately help reconcile relations between his country and the self-declared independent nation.

       He told reporters: "Our objective is to reintegrate the country. And this should start from the fact that Russia had to withdraw its troops so that we can properly administer it. We are here to offer a peaceful solution to this conflict."

       The EU Commission has also called on the area to stop "stonewalling" efforts to help ease the crisis by providing gas from alternative sources.

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       Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, the EU’s spokesperson for energy and housing, said that a working group has been set up and is "monitoring" the situation.

       She said: "We keep having regular exchanges with Moldovan authorities to mitigate any consequences of the end of Russian gas supplies to the country."

       The lack of gas leaves hundreds of thousands of people without heating at a time when average temperatures in the country are as low as -7C.

       Anatolii Dirun, assistant professor at Tiraspol’s School of Political Science, believes that Transnistrian is hoping to wait out the standoff until Moscow provides them with a solution.

       He said: "I think it could be happening in maybe one week, maybe two weeks, and in this way the authorities prefer to wait a couple of weeks for when Russia interferes and solves this question."