Arctic Russia prompts power worry: "ussia's freezing weather has raised concerns about Europe's energy supply.

Finland has warned of power shortages after Russia said it would cut electricity exports to help domestic users fend off the Arctic cold.

The move by Russian power giant UES follows state-owned Gazprom's decision to limit gas exports, although it has pledged to meet supply commitments.

Energy is a hot topic after Russia temporarily cut Ukraine's gas, hitting Europe as well.

Outages

Fingrid, the operator of Finland's national grid, issued its 'mildest' warning regarding power shortages but said that there was a chance of problems between 0830 and 2100 local time.

'Electricity generation capacity in Finland will potentially be insufficient,' Fingrid said in a statement.

The concern over electricity in Finland comes amid continuing fears in other European nations over shortfalls in gas supplies from Russia.

Earlier in the week, the EU said that gas supplies to Italy dropped by 5%, while Austria, Hungary, Finland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic saw a 20% decline.

The boss of Italian oil and gas firm Eni, Paolo Scaroni, said on Thursday that Italy might have power problems in February and March if the cold weather continued and Russia did not provide enough gas.

Gas pipe valve
The worry for many in Europe"