Russia has stopped gas supplies to Finland
Russia has stopped supplying gas to Finland. "Gas imports through the entry point at Imatra have been stopped," said Finnish gas pipelines operator Gasgrid. Finnish state-owned company Gasum also confirmed the fact that gas supplies from Russia had been suspended. "Natural gas supplies to Finland in accordance with the contract have been terminated," the company said in a statement.
According to Gasum, the Russian gas holding Gazprom announced that it was going to stop supplying gas from 6 a.m. Central European Time. This happened after Gasum announced that it would refuse to pay for gas in rubles, as Gazprom demanded. The Finnish company explained that it had carefully prepared for such a situation. In the coming months, consumers will be supplied from other sources via the Balticconnector pipeline connecting Finland with Estonia.
Finland has been importing natural gas from Russia for more than 45 years. In December 2015, the contract was extended until 31 December 2031. Although most of the gas Finland consumes has so far come from Russia, it accounts for only about 6 percent of the country's total energy consumption.
On May 14, it became known that RAO Nordic Oy- a subsidiary of the Russian energy concern Inter RAO - stops supplying electricity to Finland due to difficulties in receiving payments for. Finnish transmission line operator Fingrid said it would not lead to electricity shortages for Finnish consumers, as electricity imports from Russia have recently accounted for only about 10 percent of Finland's total consumption. "The missing imports can be compensated by importing more electricity from Sweden, as well as partly through domestic production," the company explained.
Relations between Russia and Finland deteriorated markedly after, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland, which for decades had maintained neutrality, decided to join NATO.