Russia has halted power shipments to Finland, according to Fingrid, a Finnish operator, on Saturday.
Reima Päivinen, Senior Vice President of Power System Operations at Fingrid, stated that the supply was effectively interrupted around 12 a.m. CET on Saturday (7 p.m. ET Friday).
He went on to say that the suspension had no effect on the market and that Finland “can deal” with the decrease because Russian power accounts for just a small portion of the country’s overall consumption.
“We’re also approaching summer, and less electricity will be used,” Päivinien said, adding that he was “sure there won’t be any serious difficulties” next winter.
Fingrid announced on Friday that Russia was stopping electricity exports owing to payment issues.
Some context: Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters on Thursday that the administration plans to release a second white paper on Sunday recommending that the nation join NATO. The idea would then be put to a vote in parliament, with a plenary session slated for Monday morning.
Russia’s foreign ministry called Finland’s potential NATO membership a “radical shift in the country’s foreign policy” and threatened retaliation actions.
Finland shares an 830-mile border with Russia, and its admission would imply that Russia would share a border with a nominally affiliated country.
“Russia will be compelled to take retaliatory actions, both military-technical and other in character,” it stated, “in order to stop the dangers to its national security that arise in this area.”
Gazprom stated in late April that it had completely ceased shipments to Poland’s PGNiG and Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz after they refused to pay in rubles rather than euros or dollars.
