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Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia leave Russian power grid

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Plan to integrate with EU grid on Sunday

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Switch cuts Soviet legacy tie

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Russia's Kaliningrad left to operate on its own

By Janis Laizans and Andrius Sytas

REZEKNE, Latvia, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The three Baltic

states disconnected their electricity systems from Russia's

power grid on Saturday, the region's operators said, part of a

plan designed to integrate the countries more closely with the

European Union and boost security.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania disconnected from the IPS/UPS

joint network and, subject to last-minute tests, they will

synchronise with the EU's grid at 1200 GMT on Sunday after

operating on their own in the meantime.

"We've reached the goal we for strived for, for so long. We

are now in control," Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas

Vaiciunas told a press conference.

Plans for the Baltics to decouple from the grid of their

former Soviet imperial overlord, debated for decades, gained

momentum following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The grid was the final remaining link to Russia for the

three countries, which reemerged as independent nations in the

early 1990s at the fall of the Soviet Union, and joined the

European Union and NATO in 2004.

The three staunch supporters of Kyiv stopped purchases of

power from Russia following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in

2022, but have relied on the Russian grid to control frequencies

and stabilise networks to avoid outages.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will

speak at a ceremony on Sunday to mark the switch to the EU

system, her office said on Friday.

"The system is stable, the process is happening smoothly, no

one is noticing that something changed," Latvian Energy Minister

Kaspars Melnis told Reuters after the decoupling.

Maintaining a constant power supply requires a stable grid

frequency, which can more easily be obtained over time in a

large synchronised area such as Russia or continental Europe,

compared to what the Baltics can do on their own, analysts say.

Lithuania's energy ministry told Reuters it has drawn up

contingency plans whereby some heavy energy users, such as

factories, could be temporarily disconnected from the grid in

the event of power shortages, to maintain essential supplies.

For Russia, the decoupling means its Kaliningrad exclave,

located between Lithuania, Poland and the Baltic Sea, is cut off

from Russia's main grid, leaving it to maintain its power system

alone.

The Baltic countries spent nearly 1.6 billion euros ($1.66

billion) since 2018 to upgrade grids to prepare, while Moscow

has spent 100 billion roubles ($1 billion), including on the

building of several gas-fired power plants in Kaliningrad.

($1 = 0.9643 euros)

($1 = 97.0955 roubles)