"
Natural gas deliveries to Finland under Gasum's supply contract have been interrupted
," Finland's state-owned energy company Gasum said on Saturday, after the Nordic country refused to pay supplier Gazprom in rubles.
The gas, the company added in a statement, will now be supplied from other sources via the Balticconnector gas pipeline, which connects Finland to Estonia.
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In April, Gazprom demanded that all future payments for its export gas deliveries be made in rubles rather than euros, but Gasum rejected the demand.
The group announced on Tuesday that it was seeking legal arbitration.
On Friday, he was informed by Gazprom of the interruption of deliveries on Saturday.
After electricity, gas
If gas represents only 8% of the energy consumed in Finland, that used by the Nordic country comes mainly from Russia.
Gasum, however, assured that it would be able to obtain gas from other suppliers and that it would continue its activities “
normally
”.
Finland had already unveiled plans on Friday to do without Russian gas next winter, notably announcing the ten-year lease, jointly with neighboring Estonia, of a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal.
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The announcement comes a few days after the suspension of Russian electricity exports to Finland, due to payment problems.
With its Swedish neighbor, the two countries decided to join NATO because of the Russian offensive against Ukraine, judging that Moscow was a threat while for decades, especially during the entire Cold War, the two countries had chooses non-alignment.
Moscow has already warned Helsinki that a formal candidacy for NATO membership would be “
a serious mistake whose consequences will have far-reaching consequences
”.