Russia cuts off gas supply to Finland for refusing to pay in Roubles

Russia has cut off gas exports to neighboring Finland due to a disagreement over payment method.

Helsinki has refused to comply with Russia’s new policy of only receiving payments for gas in its currency, Roubles.

However, security analysts told journalists the decision which was taken by Moscow on Saturday, just days after the Nordic country announced its plan to join North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has nothing to do with the payment process.

The measure taken by the Russian energy giant Gazprom to halt gas export to Finland was in line with an earlier announcement following Helsinki’s refusal to pay for the gas in Roubles after President Vladimir Putin demanded European countries do that since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

READ ALSO: EU to spend €210bn coronavirus recovery fund to pullout from Russia’s gas pipeline

The Finnish state-owned gas company, Gasum, which confirmed the development in a statement, said natural gas supply to Finland was cut off by Russia at 7:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) on Saturday.

The announcement followed Moscow’s decision to cut off electricity exports to Finland earlier this month and an earlier decision by the Finnish state-controlled oil company Neste to replace imports of Russian crude oil with crude oil from elsewhere.

The development signalled the end of decades of energy cooperation between the two countries.

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