Finland Kekeh refuses to pay in rubles, Russia cuts off natural gas supply

HELSINKI, KOMPAS.com – Russia will cut off supply natural gas ke Finland after the Nordic country insisted on refusing payment in rubles.

The announcement was made directly by the Finnish state-owned energy company, Gasum, on Friday (20/5/2022), as reported by NTD.

Gasum CEO Mika Wiljanen said that gas supply from Russia would be cut off on Saturday (21/5/2022).

Read also: Urged by necessity and impasse of sanctions, European Union allows Russian gas purchases to continue

Wiljanen said that the cut off of natural gas supplies from Russia was regrettable.

“Provided there are no disruptions to the gas transmission network, we will be able to supply all of our customers with gas in the coming months,” said Wiljanen.

According to Gasum, Russia’s state-owned energy giant, Gazpromsaid in April that future payments in its supply contracts should be made in rubles, not euros.

Finland is the latest country to lose supplies of natural gas from Russia, which it uses to generate electricity, after refusing to pay in rubles.

Read also: Russian companies resume gas supply to Poland despite Putin’s orders to block

Previously, Poland and Bulgaria were the first to cut off natural gas supplies from Russia at the end of last month.

However, both Poland, Bulgaria and Finland, are relatively small customers who are already preparing to move away from Russian natural gas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously threatened that hostile foreign buyers would have to open two accounts at Gazprombank.

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