The three Baltic states on February 8 disconnect from Russia’s electricity grid and join the European Union’s network. This is the culmination of a years-long process that gained urgency after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – former Soviet republics and now members of the EU and NATO – want to block Russia’s ability to exert geopolitical blackmail through its electricity system.
“We have removed any theoretical possibility for Russia to use control of the energy grid as a weapon,” Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told AFP.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania disconnect from Russian energy grid, join EU
The three Baltic states on February 8 disconnect from Russia’s electricity grid and join the European Union’s network. This is the culmination of a years-long process that gained urgency after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – former Soviet republics and now members of the EU and NATO – want to block Russia’s ability to exert geopolitical blackmail through its electricity system.
“We have removed any theoretical possibility for Russia to use control of the energy grid as a weapon,” Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told AFP.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas – a former prime minister of Estonia – on Friday called the Baltic states’ breakaway from the Russian network a “victory for European freedom and unity”.
Vaiciunas said the Baltic states completed the secession process at 09:09 on Saturday. “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” Vaiciunas said. “The energy system of the Baltic states is finally in our hands. We now have it under control,” he added.
After the breakaway, the Baltic states are now operating in the “isolation method”, before integrating into the European network on Sunday. Official celebrations will be held in the three Baltic states to mark the disconnection from the Russian grid.
The Baltics have long been preparing to integrate into the European network, but have faced technological and financial problems.
Disconnecting from the Russian energy grid became more urgent after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which sparked fears among the Baltic states that they could be the next target.
After the invasion began, they stopped buying Russian gas and energy, but the energy networks of the three countries continued to be connected to Russia and Belarus, and controlled by Moscow. The EU has generally drastically reduced its consumption of Russian energy since the war in Ukraine began. (REL)