Greenpeace stops unloading Russian gas cargo in Tornio

Activists of the Greenpeace Nordic on Saturday stopped a ship Coral Energice from unloading its cargo of Russian fossil gas at an LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal in Tornio, said the organization in a press release.

The activists in kayaks were in the water to prevent the ship from docking and climbers occupied the cranes that would unload the gas from the ship, said the Greenpeace Nordic in the release demanding stop of Russian fossil gas import immediately.

“It’s completely unacceptable that Russian fossil gas is still allowed to flow into Finland, more than six months after Putin began his invasion of Ukraine. The Finnish government and prime minister Sanna Marin have to ban all Russian fossil fuel imports immediately. The state-owned company Gasum should not be allowed to continue funding the war in Ukraine”, said Olli Tiainen, climate and energy campaigner of Greenpeace Nordic.

The organization said that Finnish state-owned Gasum regularly imported gas from Russian Gazprom and the oligarch-owned Novatek in Russian Vysotsk to Finland and Sweden.

It also said that sometimes directly, but more recently, via a more intricate arrangement where the gas is first transhipped to other vessels at sea.

Gasum’s customers in Finland include maritime and shipping operators as well as forest and steel industry companies, the press release added.

Pointing out the statement of Prime Minister Sanna Marin and minister for state ownership steering Tytti Tuppurainen regarding measures to cut off all Russian fossil fuel imports and LNG imports from Russia, the organization claimed that no real action to end the LNG imports has been taken.

“Talks about the end of Russian gas imports have now been heard for months, but Gasum is still operating as if the war didn’t exist. The current energy crisis in Europe is caused by Russia’s aggression, and it should be a turning point for Finland and all of Europe. Now is the time we really need to transition away from fossil fuels that fuel both conflicts and crises. If Finland can’t stop the Russian gas imports that are funding the war, what kind of message does that send to the Ukrainians and to the rest of Europe?”, Olli Tiainen added.