The delivery of Russian natural gas will be suspended from Saturday morning, announced the Finnish public energy group Gasum and the Russian giant Gazprom, consequence of the refusal of Finland to pay Moscow in rubles.

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“It is very regrettable that the contractual delivery of natural gas is suspended. We have, however, taken great care to prepare for this situation,” Gasum chief executive Mika Wiljanen said in a statement.

“There will be no cuts in the gas distribution network,” he assured.

In a statement published Friday evening on Telegram, Gazprom indicated that it had not received payment for April deliveries to Helsinki by the end of the day, the deadline provided for in the contract, and therefore confirmed a suspension from Saturday.

Finland had feared for a few days a gas cut from Russia. This will take place from 07:00 (04:00 GMT), according to Gasum.

In April, Gazprom demanded that all future payments for its gas export deliveries be settled in rubles rather than euros, but Gasum rejected the demand and the group announced on Tuesday that it was seeking legal arbitration. .

Asked by the press on Friday, the spokesman for the Russian presidency Dmitry Peskov considered it "obvious that no one is going to deliver anything for free".

While gas represents only 8% of the energy consumed in Finland, that used by the Nordic country comes mainly from Russia.

Finland has already unveiled plans to do without Russian gas next winter, notably announcing the ten-year lease, jointly with neighboring Estonia, of a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal.

Several countries that refused to pay in rubles for not supporting the Russian economy during the war in Ukraine, such as Poland and Bulgaria, have already had their gas cut off by Gazprom.

The announcement comes a few days after the suspension of Russian electricity exports to Finland, due to payment problems.