Russia's Power Grip Over Baltics Ending With Billion-Euro Cables
- Region is key in supplying power to Russia's Kaliningrad
- Vilnius relieved as Russian reliance set to end, minister says
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia plan to build at least one more cable to the rest of the EU to become a full part of the European network rather than just connected to it, according to Masiulis.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergA quarter of a century after breaking free from the Soviet Union, the Baltic states are finally getting rid of their electricity dependence too.
One of two new cables costing 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), connecting Lithuania to Poland, started on Wednesday, according to grid managers. Commercial flows on the second link from Lithuania to Sweden, big enough to eliminate the Baltic nation’s Russian imports, had been poised to start commercial operations on Wednesday too before tests were suspended Monday after a fire next to a Swedish converter station.