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WORLD NEWS Monday 23 May 2022
Russia cuts off gas exports to Finland in symbolic move

By JARI TANNER from Finland’s power grid to
Associated Press the Soviet transmission sys-
HELSINKI (AP) — Russia halt- tem were also constructed
ed gas exports to neighbor- in the 1970s, allowing elec-
ing Finland on Saturday, a tricity imports to Finland in
highly symbolic move that case additional capacity
came just days after the was needed.
Nordic country announced Vanhanen didn’t see Mos-
it wanted to join NATO and cow’s gas stoppage as a
marked a likely end to Fin- retaliatory step from Rus-
land’s nearly 50 years of sia to Finland’s bid to join
importing natural gas from NATO but rather a coun-
Russia. The measure taken termove to Western sanc-
by the Russian energy giant tions imposed on Moscow
Gazprom was in line with an following its invasion of
earlier announcement fol- Ukraine.
lowing Helsinki’s refusal to “Russia did the same thing
pay for the gas in rubles as with Finland it has done
Russian President Vladimir earlier with some other
Putin has demanded Eu- countries to maintain its
ropean countries do since own credibility,” Vanhanen
Russia invaded Ukraine on said, referring to the Krem-
Feb. 24. lin’s demands to buy its gas
The Finnish state-owned A view of the business tower Lakhta Centre, the headquarters of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom in rubles.
gas company Gasum said in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, April 27, 2022. Associated Press Finland shares a 1,340-kilo-
that “natural gas supplies meter (830-mile) with Rus-
to Finland under Gasum’s sinki — particularly in the households relying on gas the Soviet Union began is sia, the longest of any of
supply contract have been case of inexpensive Rus- heating. above all symbolic. the EU’s 27 members, and
cut off” by Russia on Satur- sian crude oil — and Mos- Gasum said it would now In an interview Saturday has a conflict-ridden history
day morning at 7 a.m. local cow, Finland’s energy ties supply natural gas to its cus- with the Finnish public with its huge eastern neigh-
time (0400 GMT). with Russia are now all but tomers from other sources broadcaster YLE, Van- bor.
The announcement follows gone. through the undersea Bal- hanen said the decision After losing two wars to So-
Moscow’s decision to cut Such a break was easier ticconnector gas pipeline marks an end of “a hugely viet Union, in World War II,
off electricity exports to Fin- for Finland than it will be for running between Finland important period between Finland opted for neutrality
land earlier this month and other European Union na- and Estonia and connect- Finland, the Soviet Union with stable and pragmatic
an earlier decision by the tions. Natural gas accounts ing the Finnish and Baltic and Russia, not only in ener- political and economic ties
Finnish state-controlled oil for just some 5% of total gas grids. gy terms but symbolically.” with Moscow. Large-scale
company Neste to replace energy consumption in Fin- Matti Vanhanen, the for- “That pipeline is unlikely to energy cooperation, also
imports of Russian crude land, a country of 5.5 mil- mer Finnish prime minister ever open again,” Van- including nuclear power,
oil with crude oil from else- lion. Almost all of that gas and current speaker of Par- hanen told YLE, referring between the two countries
where. comes from Russia, and is liament, said the effect of to the two parallel Russia- was one of the most vis-
After decades of energy used mainly by industrial Moscow’s decision to cut Finland natural gas pipe- ible signs of friendly bilat-
cooperation that was seen and other companies with off gas after nearly 50 years lines that were launched in eral ties between former
beneficial for both Hel- only an estimated 4,000 since the first deliveries from 1974. The first connections enemies.q

WHO chief: The COVID pandemic is

‘most certainly not over’

BERLIN (AP) — The CO- 1 billion people in lower-in- rates have plummeted,” he
VID-19 pandemic is “most come countries still haven’t added. Reported deaths
certainly not over,” the been vaccinated. are rising in Africa, the con-
head of the World Health In a weekly report Thurs- tinent with the lowest vac-
Organization warned Sun- day on the global situation, cination coverage, he said,
day, despite a decline in WHO said the number of and only 57 countries — al-
reported cases since the new COVID-19 cases ap- most all of them wealthy
peak of the omicron wave. pears to have stabilized — have vaccinated 70% of
He told governments that after weeks of decline their people.
“we lower our guard at our since late March, while the While the world’s vaccine
peril.” overall number of weekly supply has improved, there
The U.N. health agency’s deaths dropped. is “insufficient political com-
director-general, Tedros While there has been prog- mitment to roll out vac- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, left, Director General of the
Adhanom Ghebreyesus, ress, with 60% of the world’s cines” in some countries, World Health Organization (WHO), talks with a member of
told officials gathered in population vaccinated, gaps in “operational or staff during the first day of the 75th World Health Assembly at
Geneva for opening of “it’s not over anywhere financial capacity” in oth- the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva,
Switzerland, Sunday, May 22, 2022.
the WHO’s annual meet- until it’s over everywhere,” ers, he said. Associated Press
ing that “declining testing Tedros said. “In all, we see vaccine hesi-
and sequencing means we “Reported cases are in- tancy driven by misinforma- pear, but we can end it.” at the World Health As-
are blinding ourselves to creasing in almost 70 coun- tion and disinformation,” Tedros is expected to be sembly, the annual meet-
the evolution of the virus.” tries in all regions, and this Tedros said. “The pandem- appointed for a second ing of the WHO’s member
He also noted that almost in a world in which testing ic will not magically disap- five-year term this week countries.q