Baltic States Unplug From Russia and Join EU Grid
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the three Baltic States that were former Soviet Union republics, on Sunday definitively unplugged their electricity systems from the Russian grid and joined the EU continental power grid.
EU member states Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are now fully independent from the Russian and Belarussian electricity systems, after successfully integrating into the EU internal energy market by joining the European continental network via Poland, the European Commission said.
Disconnecting from Russia has been considered for many years in the three Baltic States, but the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 made the move more urgent for the three EU members that border Russia.
“The Baltic States were the last three EU Member States whose electricity networks were still operating fully within the Russian and Belarussian system where the electricity frequency was centrally controlled by Russia, leaving them vulnerable to Russia's weaponization of energy,” the EU said.
During a ceremony in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius to mark the disconnection from the Russian grid, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said,
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the three Baltic States that were former Soviet Union republics, on Sunday definitively unplugged their electricity systems from the Russian grid and joined the EU continental power grid.
EU member states Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are now fully independent from the Russian and Belarussian electricity systems, after successfully integrating into the EU internal energy market by joining the European continental network via Poland, the European Commission said.
Disconnecting from Russia has been considered for many years in the three Baltic States, but the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 made the move more urgent for the three EU members that border Russia.
“The Baltic States were the last three EU Member States whose electricity networks were still operating fully within the Russian and Belarussian system where the electricity frequency was centrally controlled by Russia, leaving them vulnerable to Russia's weaponization of energy,” the EU said.
During a ceremony in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius to mark the disconnection from the Russian grid, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said,“The last remaining electricity lines with Russia and Belarus will now be dismantled. These chains of power lines, linking the Baltic states to hostile neighbours will be a thing of the past. This is freedom. Freedom from threats and blackmail.”
Von der Leyen Beyond also added that “beyond protecting infrastructure, it is time – and even high time – to take our security and defense into our own hands.”
The security of power links in the Baltic Sea has come under intense scrutiny over the past weeks, as several undersea power and data cables have gone offline or have been severed by ships since December. Some of the incidents have raised suspicions of sabotage from vessels belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com