Baltic States Switch To European Power Grid, Ending Russia Ties

By Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans

VILNIUS, Feb 9 (Reuters) – The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania completed a switch from Russia’s electricity grid to the EU’s system on Sunday, severing Soviet-era ties amid heightened security after the suspected sabotage of several subsea cables and pipelines.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the move, years in the planning, as marking a new era of freedom for the region, in a speech at a ceremony in Vilnius alongside the leaders of the three countries and the Polish president.

“These chains of power lines linking you to hostile neighbors will be a thing of the past,” von der Leyen said.

Debated for many years, the complex switch away from the grid of their former Soviet imperial overlord gained momentum following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

It is designed to integrate the three Baltic nations more closely with the European Union and to boost the region’s energy security.

“This…