Germany and partners including the European Union, France and Romania are exploring ways to reduce Moldova's exposure to Russia, on which Europe's poorest country relies for energy supplies, Germany's foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Moldova, with fewer than 3 million people, has been stretched to the limit by receiving more refugees from Ukraine per head than any other country as hundreds of thousands flee Russia's invasion.
Like Ukraine, Moldova is a former Soviet republic, part of whose territory is occupied by Moscow-backed separatists, and it remains heavily reliant on Russia for energy and as an export market even as its population increasingly favours European integration.
"Together with our Moldovan partners, we want to assess how we can help reduce Moldova's dependency on Russia economically, financially, and with a view to energy needs, and to strengthen the country's resilience," Annalena Baerbock told participants in a Berlin conference.
Earlier, Germany said it would extend a no-strings attached 50 million euro ($55 million) loan to Moldova to help the country deal with the refugee influx and high energy costs.
Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita asked donors at the conference, who included the EU and the French and Romanian Foreign Ministers, for support in diversifying her country's energy supplies.
"We are the only country in Europe the gas imports of which depend 100% on one source - Gazprom," she said, referring to the Russian energy major. Moldova also needed help connecting its electricity network with neighbouring Romania's and thereby to the EU's, she added.
"Moldova is the most vulnerable among Ukraine's neighbours," she said. "Today Moldova needs good friends and reliable partners."
($1 = 0.9119 euros)
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Madeline Chambers and David Holmes)
