Baltic States exclude from Russia and join the EU power line

The Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are already excluded from the Russia electricity network and joined the European Union network.

Plans for this move – which have been in the 2007 work – are considered essential to European security and have been represented after the full -scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine in 2022.

“A story is being made today,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told a ceremony in the capital of Lithuania. “It’s freedom, freedom from threats, freedom from extortion.”

Polish President Andrzej Duda praised him as a “truly symbolic moment” that will make the region more secure and sustainable. “

“This is the last step to the emancipation of the post -Soviet sphere of addiction,” he added.

The so -called Brell power network – which means Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – has been controlled almost entirely by Moscow and has long been regarded as a vulnerability to the three Baltic countries.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are already members of NATO and have not purchased electricity from Russia since 2022, but their connection to the Brell network has left them depending on Moscow for vital energy.

In his speech, von der Leyen warned that NATO should look at a possible Russian revenge.

Pointing out a recent expense from suspected sabotage incidents, including electric cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea, she said that “there is a model and we cannot ignore it.”

In the last 18 months, at least 11 cables that move under the Baltic Sea have been damaged. In a recent case, A ship from the Russian “shady fleet” of oil tankers was accused of damaging Estonia’s main strong relationship in FinlandS The Kremlin declined to comment.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausena called for sanctions on the Russian shadow fleet, saying the latest incidents are of great concern.

NATO has not directly accused Russia but replied by launching a new patrol mission in the region called Baltic SentryS

A total of about 1.6 billion euros (€ 1.33 billion) has been invested in the project to transfer the three nations to the EU network, with funds largely provided to the EU.

The transition took place for two days, With three nations excluded from the Russian network on Saturday morningHe worked as an “energy island” for about 24 hours and joined the EU network on Sunday.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushenko welcomes him as a “significant event for the whole of Europe”.