Page 29 - bon-dia-aruba-20220523

A29
world news Dialuna 23 Mei 2022

Russia cuts off gas exports to Finland in symbolic move

Finland than it will be for ral gas pipelines that were
other European Union na- launched in 1974.
tions. Natural gas accounts The first connections from
for just some 5% of total Finland’s power grid to the
energy consumption in Fin- Soviet transmission system
land, a country of 5.5 mil- were also constructed in the
lion. Almost all of that gas 1970s, allowing electricity
comes from Russia, and is imports to Finland in case ad-
used mainly by industrial and ditional capacity was needed.
other companies with only an Vanhanen didn’t see Mos-
estimated 4,000 households cow’s gas stoppage as a re-
relying on gas heating. taliatory step from Russia to
Gasum said it would now Finland’s bid to join NATO
supply natural gas to its cus- but rather a countermove to
tomers from other sources Western sanctions imposed
through the undersea Baltic- on Moscow following its in-
connector gas pipeline run- vasion of Ukraine.
ning between Finland and “Russia did the same thing
Estonia and connecting the with Finland it has done earli-
Finnish and Baltic gas grids. er with some other countries
Matti Vanhanen, the former to maintain its own credibil-
Finnish prime minister and ity,” Vanhanen said, referring
current speaker of Parlia- to the Kremlin’s demands to
ment, said the effect of Mos- buy its gas in rubles.
cow’s decision to cut off gas Finland shares a 1,340-kilo-
By JARI TANNER prom was in line with an ear- Moscow’s decision to cut off after nearly 50 years since the meter (830-mile) with Rus-
Associated Press lier announcement following electricity exports to Finland first deliveries from the So- sia, the longest of any of the
HELSINKI (AP) — Rus- Helsinki’s refusal to pay for earlier this month and an ear- viet Union began is above all EU’s 27 members, and has a
sia halted gas exports to the gas in rubles as Russian lier decision by the Finnish symbolic. conflict-ridden history with
neighboring Finland on President Vladimir Putin has state-controlled oil company In an interview Saturday with its huge eastern neighbor.
Saturday, a highly sym- demanded European coun- Neste to replace imports of the Finnish public broad- After losing two wars to So-
bolic move that came tries do since Russia invaded Russian crude oil with crude caster YLE, Vanhanen said viet Union, in World War II,
just days after the Nor- Ukraine on Feb. 24. oil from elsewhere. the decision marks an end of Finland opted for neutrality
dic country announced The Finnish state-owned gas After decades of energy co- “a hugely important period with stable and pragmatic po-
it wanted to join NATO company Gasum said that operation that was seen between Finland, the Soviet litical and economic ties with
and marked a likely end to “natural gas supplies to Fin- beneficial for both Helsinki Union and Russia, not only Moscow. Large-scale energy
Finland’s nearly 50 years land under Gasum’s supply — particularly in the case of in energy terms but symboli- cooperation, also including
of importing natural gas contract have been cut off” inexpensive Russian crude cally.” nuclear power, between the
from Russia. by Russia on Saturday morn- oil — and Moscow, Finland’s “That pipeline is unlikely to two countries was one of the
ing at 7 a.m. local time (0400 energy ties with Russia are ever open again,” Vanhanen most visible signs of friendly
The measure taken by the GMT). now all but gone. told YLE, referring to the two bilateral ties between former
Russian energy giant Gaz- The announcement follows Such a break was easier for parallel Russia-Finland natu- enemies.q

WHO chief: The COVID pandemic is ‘most certainly not over’

BERLIN (AP) — The CO- ing in almost 70 countries
VID-19 pandemic is “most in all regions, and this in a
certainly not over,” the world in which testing rates
head of the World Health have plummeted,” he added.
Organization warned Reported deaths are rising in
Sunday, despite a decline Africa, the continent with the
in reported cases since the lowest vaccination coverage,
peak of the omicron wave. he said, and only 57 countries
He told governments that — almost all of them wealthy
“we lower our guard at — have vaccinated 70% of
our peril.” their people.
While the world’s vaccine
The U.N. health agency’s supply has improved, there
director-general, Tedros Ad- is “insufficient political com-
hanom Ghebreyesus, told mitment to roll out vaccines”
officials gathered in Geneva in some countries, gaps in
for opening of the WHO’s “operational or financial ca-
annual meeting that “declin- pacity” in others, he said.
ing testing and sequencing “In all, we see vaccine hesi-
means we are blinding our- tancy driven by misinforma-
selves to the evolution of the tion and disinformation,”
virus.” He also noted that Tedros said. “The pandemic
almost 1 billion people in will not magically disappear,
lower-income countries still but we can end it.”
haven’t been vaccinated. Tedros is expected to be ap-
In a weekly report Thursday pointed for a second five-year
on the global situation, WHO term this week at the World
said the number of new CO- the overall number of weekly ress, with 60% of the world’s over everywhere,” Tedros Health Assembly, the an-
VID-19 cases appears to have deaths dropped. population vaccinated, “it’s said. nual meeting of the WHO’s
stabilized after weeks of de- While there has been prog- not over anywhere until it’s “Reported cases are increas- member countries.q
cline since late March, while