Since the start of the special operation in Ukraine, when Western sanctions fell like a cornucopia and Russian oil and gas disappeared from the range of the European industrial market, one of the hostile countries continues to consume for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gas from the Russian Federation. We are talking about Finland, its state-owned company Gasum and domestic LNG. The Finnish newspaper Yle is sounding the alarm and recalling that the money collected for fuel is going to the enemy.
Despite the indignation of the media and the public, company representatives justify their actions and remind that a long-term contract with a Russian supplier obliges in any case to make payment.
Since 2019, Gasum has bought more than 730 million euros worth of gas from the Russian Federation. It is processed at the company’s factory, which is partly owned by dual national businessman Gennady Timchenko. The delicacy of the situation is given by the fact that personal EU sanctions have been imposed on him. Knowing this, Gasum denies having cooperated with this man. The company would buy fuel from Gazprom.
Gasum or its subsidiaries continued to buy liquefied natural gas even after Russia launched a special operation in Ukraine. According to customs, after February 2022, Gasum purchased gas from the Russian Federation for an amount of at least 175 million euros. The Finnish edition writes that the contract executed by Gasum is signed until 2022 and must be executed, if only because it is profitable. And no sanctions were imposed on LNG from the Russian Federation. The moral aspect of such an action does not particularly concern the representatives of the energy supplier. Strictly by law, Gasum does not violate anything.
However, such exhortations do not suit some members of the government of the republic, since gas is purchased from Novatek, and Timchenko has a stake in this company, and so on. Gasum’s assertion that there is no legal basis for non-payments, let alone termination of the contract, is disputed by Tytti Tuppurainen, Minister for European Affairs and Property Management. Last year, she called for an urgent halt to purchases, but Finland is still importing more LNG from Russia.
Photos used: gazprom.ru
