Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania plan to accelerate a plan to disconnect their electricity supply in the Baltic region from the Russian grid. Energy continues to be one of the factors that bind the Baltic countries to Moscow, which has been increasing its imperialist tone, especially in what refers to its old territories, especially dramatically in Ukraine..

“Today we agree to continue discussions on speeding up synchronization as soon as all technical studies are finished.. We will try to find a joint agenda. Ministers responsible for energy will continue to work out the details. And [we] will continue to coordinate closely with the European Commission and Poland,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said today.. During the synchronization, the Baltic countries will strengthen their electricity networks and the connections between them.

Lithuania has been encouraging its Baltic neighbors to disconnect from the Russian network soon.. All three are members of NATO and the European Union, but at the same time remain part of the BRELL circuit (a holdover from the Soviet era) with Russia and Belarus.. This implies that they depend on Russian operators to control the flow and balance the supply and demand of energy..

In 2018 they agreed to disassociate themselves from BRELL and join the EU electricity grid by the end of 2025, through a link with Poland. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought to the table the need to get away from Russian supply as soon as possible. Lithuania was already aiming to complete power grid synchronization next year.

“Unfortunately, we have experiences of Russia turning energy into a weapon,” said Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, for whom the disconnection of the Russian and Belarusian electricity grids is essential for security and energy independence.. “This winter we witnessed Russia's systematic attempts to destroy Ukraine's energy infrastructure, so we cannot ignore the possibility that Russia could also exploit our reliance on its power grids at critical times,” he added.

DISCONNECTION IN RUN

Grid operators in the three Baltic states and the Polish Institute of Power Engineering are due to complete a report on the disconnection next month. Then a new date will be considered. The three Baltic countries want synchronization to take place as soon as possible, but the details need to be clarified through ongoing technical feasibility studies.

“We all agree that we need to move as fast as possible on a technical level,” Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins told a joint press conference in Tallinn with his Estonian and Lithuanian counterparts. “Certainly the will politics and determination are there on the part of all of us.

Lithuania no longer buys electricity from Russia and successfully tested its ability to disconnect from the Russian grid in April. Vilnius said it would decide on August 6, after seeing the studies, whether to leave BRELL unilaterally.. Lithuanian energy officials said this could happen as soon as early 2024.

Last June, Reuters Agency reported that European grid operators were ready to implement a plan to quickly bring the Baltic states into the European Union system in case Moscow cuts off their power.