Thursday, March 28

Russia to cut gas supply to Finland tomorrow


the finnish company Gassum It has been denied to pay the gas russian in rublesso the Gazprom company will cut off the supply of the hydrocarbon as of Saturday. Specifically, the Russian service will be interrupted at 7:00 a.m. this Saturday, as explained by the Finnish firm. However, Gasum has committed to maintaining the service thanks to the supply that arrives by the Baltic connector gas pipelinewhich connects Finland and Estonia.

Gasum refused to pay for gas in rubles, a measure imposed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putinafter numerous western sanctions to Moscow because of the invasion of Ukraine. “Gasum does not accept Gazprom Export’s demand to change payments to rubles and, accordingly, will not make payments for its imports into rubles or in the way proposed by Gazprom Export,” the Finnish company said in a statement.

This decision was in line with the guidelines of the European Comissionwhich considered that payment in Russian currency went against the economic sanctions of the European Union. Gasum, the largest distributor of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Nordic countries, stated that it has a long-term gas supply contract with Gazprom, the details of which the two companies have been negotiating since autumn 2021. In this context, it reported that he has no choice but to “submit the arbitration contract“.

Following this decision, Gasum has received a notification from Russia which reports that they will cut the gas Starting this Saturday. The president of the Finnish company, mika wiljanenhas considered the decision “very unfortunate”, but in a statement has defended that they had already been preparing for this situation and, therefore, the supply is guaranteed for the next few months. Currently, gas represents the 5% of the total energy consumption of Finland.

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Finland and NATO

The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskovhad warned this Friday that Russia would not supply for free gas to Finland. “No one is going to supply anything for free,” he said at a press conference, while stating that he does not have data on “all the companies with which Gazprom has contracts,” the Russian gas company.

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The conflict between Russia and Finland comes after, last Wednesday, the Nordic country formally requested, together with Sweden accession to NATO. The Kremlin has already launched countermeasures and has announced that it will create 12 military units on its western border before the end of the year.

Last month, Russia already closed the gas tap to Poland and Bulgaria, by virtue of a decree with which the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, sought to penalize “hostile” countries by forcing them to open two accounts at Gazprombank, one in foreign currency and the other in rubles. Russian Deputy Prime Minister alexander novakassured on Thursday that half of the 54 foreign buyers of gas they had accepted this condition and, therefore, the contracts are not in danger, although he did not detail the exact list.


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