European country refuses to pay for supplies in rubles, new Russian demand to evade sanctions
Russian gas company Gazprom stopped gas exports to Finland this Saturday (21.May.2022). The state-owned company demands payment in rubles to circumvent sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, but Helsinki refuses to comply.
The supply cut was made 3 days after Finland and Sweden officially applied for membership in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
On Friday (May 20), Gazprom notified the Finnish gas system operator, Gasgrid Finland, about the interruption of service. This Saturday morning (May 21), both confirmed the cut.
“Starting today, during the upcoming summer season, Gasum will supply natural gas to its customers from other sources, via the Balticconnector pipeline.,” Finnish state gas company Gasum said in a statement.
Balticconnector connects Finland to the gas network of neighboring Estonia. Previously, the country prioritized the entry route for Russian gas, called Imatra.
Most of the gas used in Finland was Russian. However, gas represents only about 5% of the country’s annual energy consumption.
In addition to Finland, last month Moscow cut gas going to Bulgaria and Poland after the countries refused to pay in Russian currency. Before the change in terms of payment, most European contracts were in euros or dollars.
Helsinki and Finnish gas companies said they were prepared to cut off supplies from Russia. “The Finnish gas system is in physical and commercial equilibrium”, reinforced Gasgrid this Saturday (May 21).
In lieu of Russian supplies, Finland said on Friday (May 20) that it will charter a storage vessel from US company Excelerate Energy starting in the 4th quarter of this year.
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