Russia's Gazprom today halted gas exports to neighboring Finland, the Finnish gas transmission system operator said, in the latest escalation of a dispute with Western countries over energy payments.
Gazprom Export has demanded that European countries pay for Russian gas supplies in rubles because of sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, but Finland refuses to do so.
Gas imports through the Imatra entry point have stopped, Gasgrid Finland said in a statement.
Imatra is the entry point for Russian gas into Finland.
Finnish state gas company Gasum said yesterday that Gazprom had warned that the flow would be interrupted from 07:00 this morning.
For its part, Gasum confirmed today that the flow had been interrupted.
Gas supplies to Finland under Gasum's supply contract have been interrupted, it said in a statement.
Starting today, during the upcoming summer season, Gasum will supply gas to its customers from other sources via the Balticconnector pipeline.
The Balticconnector connects Finland to the gas network of neighbouring Estonia.
The majority of gas used in Finland comes from Russia, but gas makes up only about 5% of its annual energy consumption.
Many European energy supply contracts are in euros or dollars, and Moscow stopped supplying gas to Bulgaria and Poland last month after they refused to comply with new payment terms.
Source: RES
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