Baltic states switch to European power grid, ending Russia ties

Reuters: VILNIUS (Reuters) - The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania completed a switch from Russia's electricity grid to the EU's system on Sunday, severing Soviet-era ties amid heightened security after the suspected sabotage of several subsea cables and pipelines.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the move, years in the planning, as marking a new era of freedom for the region, in a speech at a ceremony in Vilnius alongside the leaders of the three countries and the Polish president.

"These chains of power lines linking you to hostile neighbours will be a thing of the past," von der Leyen said.

Debated for many years, the complex switch away from the grid of their former Soviet imperial overlord gained momentum following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

It is designed to integrate the three Baltic nations more closely with the European Union and to boost the region's energy security.

"This is freedom, freedom from threats, freedom from blackmail," von der Leyen said, adding that the wider European continent was also liberating itself from the use of Russian natural gas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address that Kyiv had taken the same step in 2022 "and the Baltic states are also ridding themselves of this dependence.

"Moscow will no longer be able to use energy as a weapon against the Baltic states."

After disconnecting on Saturday from the IPS/UPS network, established by the Soviet Union in the 1950s and now run by Russia, the Baltic nations cut cross-border high-voltage transmission lines in eastern Latvia, some 100 metres from the Russian border, handing out pieces of chopped wire to enthusiastic bystanders as keepsakes.

High alert

The Baltic Sea region is on high alert following power cable, telecom and gas pipeline outages between the Baltics and Sweden or Finland. All were believed to have been caused by ships dragging anchors along the seabed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has denied any involvement.

Poland and the Baltics deployed navy assets, elite police units and helicopters to monitor the area after an undersea power link from Finland to Estonia was damaged in December, while Lithuania's military began drills to protect the overland connection to Poland.

Analysts say any further damage to links could push power prices in the Baltics to levels not seen since the invasion of Ukraine, when energy prices soared.