Baltic States to Cut Ties with Russian Power Grid by February 2025

The Baltic states have officially informed Russia and Belarus that they will disconnect from the Moscow-controlled post-Soviet power grid in February 2025, Lithuanian media outlet LRT reported on July 16.

Lithuanian grid operator Litgrid, Latvian operator AST, and Estonia’s Elering have notified their Russian and Belarusian counterparts that they will not renew the BRELL agreement,  which has linked their electricity systems with Russia and Belarus since the Soviet era. The agreement is set to expire in February 2025.

The three Baltic countries plan to synchronize their power grids with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area on February 9, 2025. The day before, they will disconnect from the Russian system and conduct an isolated operation test, according to AST’s press release.

“This is a very important milestone for synchronization, which is the most ambitious energy independence project in the Baltics,” said Litgrid CEO Rokas Masiulis. “This is the moment when we can point to a specific date on which we will cut the final ties with Russia in the energy sector.”

Masiulis noted that the Baltic operators no longer maintain commercial relations with Russia and Belarus. Litgrid also stated that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are fully prepared for emergency synchronization with the European grid if needed.

The Baltic states remain the only EU countries still connected to the BRELL system, which includes Russia and Belarus. They originally planned to complete synchronization with the European grid by the end of 2025 but accelerated the process following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier, Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, generated $12 billion in 2022, $16 billion in 2023, and may exceed $18 billion in 2024. While Russia controls 10% of the global oil market, its nuclear share nears 50%, far surpassing Westinghouse’s $9.68 billion revenue in 2023.