Baltic states that make a historic switch away from Russian power star-news.press/wp

For more than three decades, after leaving the Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, they began to get out of the network from the Russian electricity network and joined the EU network.

The two-day process began on Saturday morning, with said residents collected their devices, food and water supply and prepare as if the weather forecast is.

Many said they did not use the elevators – the traffic lights must be excluded in some areas.

The giant, specially made clock, will count on the last seconds before moving to the ceremony in Lithuania’s capital on Sunday, attended the EU Ursula von der Leyen.

Three nations will then be officially switched from the so-called Brell electricity network, which linked them to Russia and Belarus since the end of World War II.

Brell grid – which stands for Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – is fully controlled by Moscow and long is considered vulnerability for the former Soviet republics, which are now NATO members.

After exclusion from it, three countries will work in “isolated mode” about 24 hours – survive only on their own power – before integrating into the European network via Poland.

“We now remove Russia’s ability to use the electricity system as a tool of geopolitical blackmail,” Lithuania is the Minister of Energy Zygimantas Vaiciunas.

“It is the culmination of effort in more than 10 years or 20 years, to reduce this energy dependence,” said Prof. David Smith from the Baltic Research Unit at Glasgow University.

“When the Baltic States joined the EU and NATO, everyone discussed them that the energy island remained dependent on the common electricity network with Belarus and Russia,” Smith said. “It’s completely broken now.”

Tensions between the Baltic states and Russia shared by a combined 543 mile of long (874km) borders, wiped out of full invasion in Russia in Ukraine in February 2022. years.

Since then, preventing sabotage incidents involving electrical cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea have encouraged fear to make Moscow win a change in EU energy.

In the last 18 months, at least 11 cables on the Baltic Sea have been damaged. In a recent case, A ship from the Russian “Fleet Fleet” oil tank is accused of damage to the main link of Estonia in the Bay of Finland. Kremlin refused to comment.

NATO has not accused Russia, but responded by launching a new patrol mission of the region called Baltic Sentry.

“We cannot exclude some kind of provocation. Therefore, Latvian and foreign security authorities are in a high warning,” said Wednesday, “Latvian president Edgars Rinkēvičs.

“Clear that there are risks, we understand that well,” the Latvian Prime Minister Evik Silin echoed. “But the risks have been identified and there is a crisis situation plan.”

Spokesperson from the NATO Energy Security Center Excellence said for the BBC news that frequent emergency tests were made in recent months to prepare for potential targeted attacks on the energy system.

Chief of the Cybersekurian Center of Estonia, Gert Auvaart, said Russia “may try to use this period to create uncertainty”, but was well prepared for the international co-operation “Estonia”.

He added that Cyber-attacks against the country increased by Russia in Ukraine, and ranged from “Hackivist DDoS attacks (distributed to respond) to more sophisticated, targeted operations against government agencies and companies.”

The Baltic states will also be on the decline for campaigns for insurrection linked with transition.

Shortly after informing Russia about his decision to withdraw from Brell in August 2024. years, the employment campaign appeared a false warning about the failure of the supply and lowering prices if the countries left the share.