Baltic states set to decouple from Russian power grid in early 2025 (updated)
17/07/2023 15:33
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Lithuania lobbying for decoupling date in 2024
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Estonia PM says it will happen in 2025
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Three Baltic countries must move at same time
(Adds Lithuania grid operator says will continue to lobby for
earlier decoupling, paragraphs 6-7; Adds bullet points; Edits)
By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS, July 17 (Reuters) - The Baltic states are set
to decouple from the Russian power grid in early 2025 despite
calls from Lithuania for an earlier exit, Estonian Prime
Minister told Reuters.
Three decades after splitting from the former Soviet Union
and 19 years since joining the European Union, the Baltic states
of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania still depend on Russia to
ensure a stable power system.
Lithuania has been arguing for a decoupling date of early
2024, saying that Russia is undependable and an aggressor. But
this is not acceptable to Estonia, which would bear the brunt of
the cost of an earlier move, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas
told Reuters.
"I understand that Lithuania wants to have it faster, but
the question is that ... Estonia would pay the highest price for
this in terms of the (cost), but also in terms of risks of
blackouts," said Kallas, speaking on the sidelines of NATO
summit in Vilnius last week.
"As a compromise, we're agreeing to bring this deadline a
year closer. So, leaving in the beginning of 2025," Kallas said.
Lithuanian power grid operator Litgrid said it would
continue to lobby Estonia and Latvia to move sooner, but it will
follow Estonia's timetable if Estonia holds firm, because all
three Baltic countries must decouple together.
"We are dependant on Estonia, so if they don't change their
mind, sadly, it will happen according to their timetable (in
early 2025)" said Rokas Masiulis, the chief of the Lithuanian
power grid operator Litgrid, in comments made to Lithuania's
public radio on Monday.
"We see what happens in Ukraine, where people are being
killed and bombs continue to fall – I don't think it's the right
choice to keep cooperating with the aggressor just because this
saves a few cents," Masiulis told reporters on Monday.
Under a deal signed in 2018, the leaders of the region, with
support from Poland and the European Commission and 1.6 billion
euros ($1.61 billion) in European funding, agreed to upgrade
their infrastructure and disconnect from the Russian grid by
2025.
The decoupling will be announced by a formal application to
the Baltic, Russian and Belarus joint grid operators in August
2024, Kallas said.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by David Evans
and Conor Humphries)
((Andrius.Sytas@thomsonreuters.com; +370 682 74006;))