Finland confirms Russia shuts down electricity supply

Russian President Putin had a phone call with Finnish President Niinisto on the 14th May, and the two sides had a "frank exchange of views."

On May 15, local time, Fingrid, the Finnish power grid operator, confirmed to the public that Russia's power supply to Finland had been reduced to zero.

Earlier, RAO Nordic, the Finnish branch of the Russian power company, announced on May 13 that it had decided to stop supplying electricity to Finland on the 14th May because it had not received payment.

RAO Nordic, the Nordic subsidiary of Russia's Unified Electricity Import and Export Corporation, has been exporting electricity to Finland for many years through the Nordic electricity exchange Nord Pool. But the company's bank account has not received payment from Nord Pool since 6th May.

Recent figures show that electricity imports from Russia account for about 10% of Finland's total electricity consumption. But Fingrid stressed that Russia's power cut would not cause "substantial problems." Finland is coordinating the import of electricity from Sweden, and as wind power increases, Finland is on track to become self-sufficient in electricity by 2023.

Although the Finnish government has not stated whether the arrears of electricity bills to Russia are related to bilateral relations and Finland's plan to join NATO, the outside world has generally linked the matter to the problems caused by Finland's application to join NATO.

On 12th May, Finnish President Niinisto and Prime Minister Marin issued a joint statement saying that they support the country's application to join NATO and submit the relevant decision to parliament for approval as soon as possible. NATO welcomed this, but Russia expressed its dissatisfaction.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone call with Finnish President Niinisto on the 14th May, and the two sides had a "frank exchange of views." Niinisto has reservations about the assertion that Russia-Finland relations are "business as usual", saying "we will not go back to what we are used to".

With the situation develops between Russia and Ukraine, European energy problem is becoming increasingly serious. In the coming future, due to target of peak carbon dioxide emissions, the solar and wind energy effects must be more prominent among energy mix.