Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are considering speeding up the plan for interruption of electricity supply to the Baltic region from Russian network.

Three countries, members of NATO and the European Union, remain part of it. Soviet-era BRELL network with Russia and Belarus, and depend on Russian companies to control frequencies and balance supply and demand.

In 2018, they agreed to leave BRELL and join European energy network by the end of 2025 through a connection with Poland. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine requires one revision of this schedule.

“We all agree that we need to move as fast as possible on a technical levelThis was stated by Latvian Prime Minister Kristianis Karins at a joint press conference in Tallinn with his Estonian and Lithuanian counterparts. “Of course, we all have the political will and determination.”

The grid operators of the three Baltic countries and the Polish Institute of Electromechanics are expected to complete the outage study by June, after which a new date will be considered.

Lithuania no longer buys electricity from Russia and successfully tested the possibility of disconnecting from the Russian network in April. He said that on August 6, after studying the relevant studies, he would decide to withdraw from BRELL unilaterally. According to Lithuanian officials, this could happen even in 2024.

“Unfortunately, we have first-hand experience of how Russia uses energy as a weapon,” Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrid Simonyte said. “We cannot ignore even the slightest possibility that Russia will take advantage of our dependence on its own energy systems at the most critical moment.”

Source: APE-Reuters