Russia will shut down gas supplies to Finland on Saturday, the Finnish state-owned energy wholesaler Gasum said.
Gasum said on Friday that it had been informed by Russia’s state-owned energy corporation Gazprom that flows would be halted.
The gas cutoff scheduled to take place on Saturday morning comes two days after Finland and Sweden applied to join the NATO military alliance amid security concerns spurred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Gasum said the move by Russia would not cause disruptions in supplies.
“It is highly regrettable that natural gas supplies under our supply contract will now be halted,” Gasum CEO Mika Wiljanen said in a statement.
“We have been carefully preparing for this situation and provided that there will be no disruptions in the gas transmission network, we will be able to supply all our customers with gas in the coming months,” he said.
Russia has in April demanded that foreign buyers start paying for supplies in roubles, and Russia cut supplies to Poland and Bulgaria for refusing to do so.
Gasum rejected the demand and announced on Tuesday it was taking the issue to arbitration.
Gasum said it will provide Finnish customers with natural gas through the Balticconnector pipeline that connects Finland with Estonia.
