Russia cuts off natural gas supply to Finland amid NATO dispute

Finnish energy company Gasum announced on Saturday that Russia cut off its natural gas supply to Finland following moves by the Nordic country and Sweden earlier this week to formally apply to NATO.

“Natural gas supplies to Finland under Gasum’s supply contract have been cut off,” Gasum said in a release. 

“Starting from today, during the upcoming summer season, Gasum will supply natural gas to its customers from other sources through the Balticconnector pipeline. Gasum’s gas filling stations in the gas network area will continue in normal operation,” the Finnish energy company added.

Last week, Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid confirmed that Russian energy supplier RAO Nordic Oy had cut off its electricity supply to Finland, though the operator noted that the electricity supplied through RAO Nordic Oy only makes up 10 percent of Finland’s consumption.

“The lack of electricity import from Russia will be compensated by importing more electricity from Sweden and by generating more electricity in Finland,” senior vice president of power system operations at Fingrid, Reima Päivinen, said in a statement. 

The development comes after both Finland and Sweden formally applied for NATO membership. 

Speaking from the White House rose garden on Thursday with the leaders of the countries, President Biden declared that the two countries “meet every NATO requirement and then some.” 

“The bottom line is simple, quite straightforward: Finland and Sweden make NATO stronger, not just because of their capacity but because they’re strong, strong democracies.  And a strong, united NATO is the foundation of America’s security,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said ahead of Sweden and Finland formally applying to the military alliance, “there is no immediate threat to Russia from an expansion to include these countries.” His comments were an apparent reversal from what a Kremlin spokesperson had said earlier this month.