Baltic states plan to disconnect from Russian grid by 2025.

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The prime ministers of the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – issued a joint statement on Wednesday (local time) saying they will disconnect from Russia’s power grid by early 2025.

The three Baltic states said they would connect to the Western European power grid by February 2025 and end their contracts with the Russian-administered “BRELL” power grid six months before that in order to break away from their dependence on Russia for energy, AFP and DPA reported.

“Being tied to the Russian-controlled BRELL grid threatens the energy security of our three Baltic countries,” they said in a statement.

Brel is a former Soviet power grid that combines the names of Belarus and five other countries – Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

“Together with Latvia and Lithuania, we have decided to move away from energy dependence on Russia,” said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kalas after signing the trilateral agreement, noting that “Russia has proven itself to be a dangerous and unpredictable country by invading Ukraine and weaponizing energy.”

Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins called the trilateral agreement “a new step towards achieving full energy independence from Russia and flexibilizing our energy system.”
Lithuania had hoped to disconnect from the Russian grid as early as next year, but the three countries agreed to complete the task by early 2025, AFP reported.

“We believe that the work on integration with the Western European power grid will be completed before February 2025, but it is important to keep pace with other countries,” Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonite said in a statement.

EU Commissioner for Energy Policy Kadri Simpson welcomed the historic agreement, saying it “symbolizes European unity.”

The Baltic states had already decided to integrate their power grids with the Western European system in 2018 and received funding from the EU to do so.

The three countries gained independence 먹튀검증토토사이트 from the Soviet Union in 1991 and are now members of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).