Baltic countries successfully switch from Russia power grid to E.U. system

Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia joined the E.U.’s energy system on Sunday, one day after disconnecting from Russia’s power grid.

The three Baltic states synchronized their electricity networks with the European system at 2:05 p.m. local time (3:05 p.m. Moscow time) on February 9, according to Latvia’s LETA news agency. They connected to the European energy system via Poland.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs called the transition “another important step towards independence.” Estonian President Alar Karis said that Sunday was a “historic day for the Baltic states” as Russia would “never again be able to use energy as a weapon against us.” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said the switch to the European power grid “marks the beginning of a new era.”

The Baltic states had been part of the BRELL power grid (named after the first letters of its member countries: Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) since 2001. They announced plans to leave the system in 2017, and after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, they stopped purchasing electricity from Russia and Belarus.