Russia To Halt Natural Gas Supplies To Finland

Russia will halt gas supplies to Finland, its state-owned energy company announced on Friday.

This is a move that comes after the Finland applied for NATO membership this week and refused President Vladimir Putin’s demand to pay in rubles.

Finland is the latest country to be cut off from an energy supply that is used to generate electricity and power industry after refusing Russia’s decree. 

Poland and Bulgaria were also cut off late last month.

Putin declared that unfriendly foreign buyers open two accounts in state-owned Gazprombank, one to pay in euros and dollars as specified in contracts and another in rubles.

The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, has said countries making a payment in the currency listed in their contracts and formally signaling that the payment process is concluded is acceptable under EU sanctions.

It says opening a second account in rubles would breach them.

That left countries scrambling to decide what to do. 

Finland refused the new Russian payment system.

Natural gas accounted for just 6% of Finland’s total energy consumption in 2020.

Almost all is imported from Russia.