Finland's Environment and Climate Minister Kai Mykkanen said his country aims to ban imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) on a national legislative level, Finnish publication Yle reported Nov. 7.
Mykkanen said the ban will be put forth as part of implementing the European Union's latest gas market package.
"The package will include a paragraph allowing the ban to be imposed," Mykkanen said. "EU members can use this paragraph as they see fit and it will be easy to introduce it into Finnish law."
Mykkanen said that Russian LNG could be banned from Finland within two years of the EU's gas package taking effect.
Finland's state-owned energy company Gasum still receives LNG from Russia, though the amounts have decreased since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The EU has not imposed sanctions on Russian LNG. Though pipeline gas imports to Europe decreased sharply in response to Russia's war, EU nations bought record amounts of Russian LNG in 2023.
Russia cut off pipeline gas supplies to Finland in May 2022, when Gasum refused demands to pay for gas in rubles.
Gas and oil profits constitute a substantial portion of Russia's economy, funding Moscow's war in Ukraine.
Francis Farrell
