EU hails end of Russia ‘blackmail’ as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, cut power links

The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday that the impending disconnection of Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from Russia’s power grid was a “victory for freedom”.

The three EU and Nato countries are set to sever electricity ties with Moscow on Saturday in a politically charged move three decades after they broke free from the Kremlin’s rule.

“Russia can no longer use energy as a tool of blackmail,” said Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister. “This is a victory for freedom and European unity.”

The Baltic States have been preparing to break from the Soviet-era power grid and integrate with the European network for years but have faced technological and financial issues.

The switch became more urgent after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which sparked fears among the Baltic states that they could be targeted next.

They stopped buying Russian gas and electricity after the invasion but their power grids remained connected to Russia and Belarus, controlled from Moscow.