Russia was forced to suspend electricity supplies to Finland not as a countermeasure to the country’s accession to NATO, but just because EU sanctions made it difficult to receive the payment from Fingrid, the company that manages Finland’s power grids.
Fingrid would like to clarify that the suspension of Russian electricity transmission stems from payment restrictions imposed by Western countries. Due to these restrictions on the Ruble deals, the payment for Russian electricity sold can no longer be made. Thus, the suspension is a consequence rather than a countermeasure of Russia.
According to Russian operator Inter RAO, the supply of electricity to Finland has been suspended since May 14 because of difficulties in accepting payments for electricity already sold.
Inter RAO is the only Russian electricity export and import operator. In 2021, electricity exports to Finland totaled 8.2 billion kWh, or 37% of the company’s total electricity exports.