COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Russia will cut natural gas to Finland after the Scandinavian nation, which requested to join NATO this week, refused to pay President Vladimir Putin’s request for the ruble, the company said Friday. The energy of the Finnish state in recent increases. European energy in the wake of the war with Ukraine.
Finland was the last country to lose power supply, used for electricity and power generation, after Russia’s rejection of the rule. Poland and Bulgaria were cut off late last month, but they are preparing to lose natural gas or receive supplies from other countries.
It was announced by Putin “Angry foreign buyers” open two accounts In the state Gazprombank, one must pay in euros and dollars, as indicated in the contracts, and the other in rubles. Italian energy company Eni announced this week that it is “starting procedures” to open an account in euros and rubles.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, has said that the system does not violate EU sanctions if countries pay in the currency indicated in their contracts and then formally indicate that the payment process is complete. na. But opening a second ruble account may not be a violation of penalties.
This forces countries to decide what to do next. Analysts say the EU’s position is vague enough to allow the Kremlin to continue to undermine unity in the 27 member states – but the loss of large European consumers such as Italy and Germany will bring huge costs to Russia. It comes as Europe seeks to reduce its dependence on Russia’s oil and gas to prevent hundreds of millions of people being thrown into Putin’s coffin every day, but Build enough reserves before winter From little supply in the world.
Finland has rejected a new payment system, with energy company Gasum saying its supply from Russia will be suspended on Saturday.
CEO Mika Villianen called the resolution “very sad”.
But “provided there are no delays in the gas transportation network, we will be able to provide gas to all our customers in the coming months,” Villianen said.
According to Finnish broadcaster YLE, natural gas will only account for 6% of Finland’s total energy consumption by 2020. Almost all of the gas comes from Russia. It cannot be compared to large importers such as Italy and Germany, which get 40% and 35% of their gas from Russia.
According to Finland’s Gasum, Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom said in April that future payments on its supply contract should be made in rubles rather than euros.
The Helsinki government announced on Friday that they have signed a 10-year lease on a floating liquefied natural gas terminal in the Gulf of Finland and the necessary port facilities will be built off the coast of the northern country and Estonia. said the Minister of Economy. Mika Lintila. In the statement.
“It will play an important role in providing gas to the Finnish industry,” Lintila said. The ship is expected to be ready for use next winter.
Finland and Estonia are working together to lease an LNG terminal ship that will provide sufficient storage and supply capacity to allow Russian gas to be dumped in neighboring countries, said Gasgrid Finland, a transmission network company. The pipeline between the neighbors will make it possible to import gas from the Baltic states instead of Russia.
Meanwhile, Italian company Eni said on Tuesday that it would follow Putin’s order “considering the inevitable payment in the coming days”, but did not accept the changes.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said he believed it was a breach of contract and called on the European Commission to make a decision to let companies know if they were violating the sanctions.
AP writer Colin Barry contributed from Milan.
Source: Huffpost
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