Successful decoupling
Baltic states dissolve from Russian power grid
Updated on 08/08/2025 – 4:58 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Politically, culturally and economic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have long been firmly anchored in the west. Now the three countries have also completely dissolved from Russia in the energy sector.
More than 30 years after their regained independence, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have come loose from the Russian energy system. Shortly after 9:00 a.m. local time, the three Baltic EU and NATO countries were decoupled from the common power grid with Russia on Saturday, with which they had been connected to historical reasons since Soviet pages.
The separation was without problems and remained unnoticed for consumers, as the network operators in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announced. For one day, the electricity grids of the three countries are now to work in a kind of island operation alone – and then integrated into the European system via Poland on Sunday.
“Symbolically as in the Baltic Way, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania – all Baltic states together – have separated from the Russian -controlled energy network today and, after the implementation of business tests, are fully connected to the European energy network three times,” said Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina. “This is the largest and most important project for energy independence and regional security for decades.”
Against the background of the Russian attack on Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had already set their electricity imports from Russia. Furthermore, however, they were part of a common, synchronized network with Russia and Belarus from Soviet. This was now a security risk in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. After changing the network, you will then be able to control the basic parameters of the electricity system such as frequency and tension yourself.
From a geopolitical point of view, the step is also of great importance. “Russia can no longer use energy as a blackmail instrument,” wrote, for example, the EU foreign commissioner Kaja Kallas on the platform X. “This is a victory for freedom and European unity.”
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were forced to be part of the Soviet Union after the Second World War until the regained independence in 1991. In their struggle for freedom, on August 23, 1989, they had demonstrated their will to freedom with a 600 -kilometer chain of people across the Baltic States – the so -called “Baltic Way”.
The three countries had started preparations for connecting to the European Energy System in 2009. The original plan provided for synchronization in early 2026.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022 accelerated the project, which was financially supported by the EU. The cost of building the necessary infrastructure was around 1.6 billion euros.
