As the Finnish energy company RAO Nordic announced, Russia will no longer supply electricity to Finland from Saturday. “We no longer have the opportunity to pay for the imported electricity and must therefore stop importing electricity from Russia from May 14,” said a spokesman for the company, which is a subcontractor of the Russian state-owned company Inter RAO.
A spokesman for “Finnish Energy” said that there would be no shortage of electricity in the country as a result – but the delivery stop would result in higher prices. Payment difficulties are officially given as the reason. About ten percent of Finland’s energy consumption is covered with electricity imported from Russia.
On Thursday, however, Russia also described Finland’s planned NATO membership as a threat. Russia will analyze the consequences of Finland joining NATO with a view to its own security, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin had previously spoken out in favor of their country joining NATO immediately. It is now expected that Finland will formally decide to apply for membership in the coming days.
The Russian Foreign Ministry described this as a radical change in the country’s foreign policy. “Russia will be forced to take both military-technical and other countermeasures to stop growing threats to its national security,” it said.
