Electricity exports from Russia to Finland stopped overnight from Friday to Saturday after a Russian supplier announced about it, an official from the Finnish electricity grid operator told AFP.
Exports from Russia to Finland is currently at zero, and this has happened since midnight as announcedsaid toAFP Timo Kaukonen, an operations manager at Fingrid, the Finnish network operator.
The network is in balance thanks to imports from Sweden, according to Fingrid’s real-time map, which said on Friday it could do without effortlessly Russia’s electricity.
Today, Finland imports about 10% of its total electricity consumption from its large Russian neighbor. RAO Nordic, a Helsinki-based subsidiary of Russian utility InterRAO, justified the closure on Friday, saying it has not received payment for electricity supplied to Finland since May 6.
The company did not say whether these settlement issues were related to European sanctions targeting Russia’s economy after the invasion of Ukraine.
The situation becomes increasingly tense
This announcement came against a backdrop of rising tensions between Moscow and Helsinki, which expressed its desire to join without delay saNATO under the influence of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
The announcement of the Finnish candidacy is expected on Sunday, at a press conference by President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
Moscow has no animosity towards Finland and Sweden and sees no real justification for these two countries to join the NATO alliance.NATOseveral news agencies in Russia reported on Saturday, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grouchko.
However, Russia will act if theNATO deploying nuclear forces and equipment near its border, Grushko added.
It is necessary to answer […] taking appropriate precautionary measures that will ensure the possibility of preventionwrote Interfax quoting the Deputy Minister.
More details to come
Source: Radio-Canada
