Baltic states disconnected from Russia’s power grid

“This legacy of occupation meant that Moscow – which uses energy as a weapon – had control of the frequency,” the ministry said in a statement on X.

“That’s a critical element in maintaining reliable power supply. That dependency ends today!”

The Lithuanian Energy Ministry announced in July 2024 that the Baltic countries would fully synchronize with the continental European electricity grid in February 2025.

Earlier in February, Latvian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said in an interview that his country is ready for technical difficulties and possible sabotages during the synchronization process.

Ukraine also disconnected itself from the Russian energy grid in February 2022, when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.

“We stopped buying electricity & gas from Russia right after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” the Estonian Foreign Ministry announced in its statement.

“By making our whole energy system independent of Russia, the Kremlin loses another lever of power to use against Europe,” it added.

The Russian Mission to the bloc has announced that the decision of Baltic nations to disconnect themselves from the unified energy system with Russia and Belarus will only worsen the economic prospects for the EU, stressing that the move is politically motivated.

“Disconnecting from the BRELL is a politically motivated move that will drive up regional electricity prices, make power grids less reliable, and further erode the EU’s economic competitiveness,” the mission said on Telegram, emphasizing that European households and businesses, primarily in the Baltic countries, will bear the costs.

The mission added that the EU economy demonstrated “meager” growth of only 0.8% last year, and highlighted that the continued drive to break energy ties with Moscow would only worsen its prospects.