It’s already a reality, Lithuania sever all energy links with Russia. The Baltic country has stopped import fossil fuels starting this Sunday from Russia in order not to fund President Vladimir Putin’s “war machine” while Moscow threatens to cut off the energy supply to countries considered “hostile”. As of this Sunday, Lithuania will not import oil, gas or electricity from Russia, a “hugely important” step towards “energy independence”said Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys.
The Lithuanian government wants also express their “solidarity” with Ukrainewho has repeatedly urged European countries not to wait for possible reprisals from Russia and Waiver of the ‘motu proprio’ to import gas and oil. Coal is already on the European Union’s sanctions list, oil – let alone gas – is not due to suspicions from the most dependent countries, particularly in Eastern Europe. However, Moscow has already cut off gas supplies to Poland, Bulgaria and Finland because it refuses to pay for supplies in rubles.
The energy minister added that Lithuania will meet its electricity needs through the local production and imports from other European countries like Sweden, Poland and Latvia. For its part, the Lithuanian electricity grid operator Litgrid announced on its Twitter account that the measure affects all Baltic countries. “Nord Pool, the operator of the power exchange, has stopped buying and selling Russian power by the Inter RAO Group companies, the sole importers of power from Russia,” the company said. On May 14, Inter RAO cut off Electricity supply to Finland, alleged problems receiving payments. This Friday, the Finnish energy company Gasum reported that the supply of Russian natural gas will be interrupted on Saturday following a decision by the Russian Gazprom.