The Russian giant Gazprom officially stopped gas exports to Finland on Saturday, the Finnish gas transmission system management company said in the latest escalation of a dispute with Western countries over energy payments.
Gazprom Export has demanded that European countries pay for Russian gas supplies in rubles due to sanctions imposed for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but Finland has refused to do so.
“Gas imports through the Imatra entry point have stopped,” Gasgrid Finland said in a statement. Imatra is the entry point for Russian gas into Finland.
Finnish state-owned gas company Gasum said yesterday that Gazprom had warned that the flow would be cut off from 07:00 this morning.
Gasum confirmed for its part today that the flow has been stopped.
“Gas supplies to Finland under the Gasum supply contract have been suspended,” it said in a statement.
“Starting today, during the upcoming summer season, Gasum will supply gas to its customers from other sources via the Balticconnector pipeline.
The Balticconnector connects Finland to the gas network of neighboring Estonia. Most of the gas used in Finland comes from Russia, but the gas is only about 5% of its annual energy consumption.
Many European energy supply contracts are in euros or dollars, and Moscow cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland last month after refusing to comply with the new payment terms.
It is noted that in addition to the issue of payments, Moscow has “targeted” Finland and for its decision to join NATO.
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