Russia has suspended electricity supply to Finland after the Finnish operator refused to pay in Rubles to Inter RAO, Russia’s largest electricity company. While the official reason provided is the non-payment of supplied electricity by the Finnish, the move comes as Finland gets closer to joining NATO in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war.
RAO Nordic, the local subsidiary of the Russian electricity giant, said in a statement, “Unfortunately, we are forced to note that for the volumes which have been sold on the Nord Pool exchange since May 6, funds have not yet been credited to our bank account, We hope that the situation will improve soon and the electricity trade with Russia can resume.”
Earlier, Finland’s transmission system operator Fingrid had said that there was no threat to the electricity supply in the country as a result of the move. The grid company added that electricity imported from Russia accounted for around 10% of the nation’s total consumption and they will be able to replace it from Sweden or through local production.
The relationship between Russia and Finland has deteriorated rapidly ever since Russia decided to invade Ukraine as part of its ‘Special Military Operation’. Finland, along with Sweden, has edged closer and closer to a NATO membership ever since the Russian war in Ukraine began. This latest development comes after days of simmering tensions between the 2 countries.
Following this decision from Russia, Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in talks that were described as ‘straightforward and direct’ by the Finnish President. He also mentioned that the talks were held without aggravation.
I spoke with Putin. The conversation was direct and straight-forward and it was conducted without aggravations.https://t.co/yPDXmqYq9H pic.twitter.com/z8Nmm3VeQ9
— Sauli Niinistö (@niinisto) May 14, 2022
