A pro-Russian breakaway region in the former Soviet republic of Moldova has announced planned power outages following the suspension of Russian natural gas supplies.

Transdniestria's authorities said on Saturday that three hours of rolling blackouts per day will take place in the region.

Reuters news agency reported that Transdniestria has already cut hot water supplies and heating to households, and all factories, except food producers, have been forced to stop production.

The authorities took the measure because Russian energy giant Gazprom stopped gas exports to Europe through Ukraine from Wednesday. Ukraine had refused to extend its transit contract after the end of December, citing the need to reduce Russia's revenue sources amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Russia said the supply of gas has been suspended because of unpaid Moldovan debts.

Most of the Russian natural gas supplied to Moldova was used to generate electricity in Transdniestria.

The Moldovan government says it has enough energy sources, including gas supplies from Romania, to meet the needs for the rest of the country.