
Baltic nations disconnect from Russian power grid
VILNIUS:
The three Baltic states on Saturday cut ties with Russia's power grid to join the European Union's network, the culmination of a years-long process that gained urgency with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- all former Soviet republics that are now in the European Union and NATO -- had wanted to block Russia's ability to geopolitically blackmail them via the electricity system.
"We have removed any theoretical possibility of Russia using energy (grid) control as a weapon," Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told AFP on Saturday.
The European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jorgensen, said: "This is indeed a historic day."
"I like the light better when there's no Russian electrons involved," he told reporters in Estonian capital Tallinn.
"It's important to underline that this is about security... No European country should be dependent on Russia for anything," he added.
Vaiciunas said the Baltic states had completed the disconnection process at 9:09 am (0709 GMT).
Latvia later physically cut a power line to Russia.
"Now we have complete control over our power grid," Latvian Energy Minister Kaspars Melnis told reporters while holding a piece of the dismantled wire.
Vaiciunas said the Baltics were now operating in so-called "isolated mode" before they integrate with the European grid on Sunday.
A total of 1.6 billion euros ($1.7 billion) — mostly EU funds — have been invested in the synchronisation project across the Baltic states and Poland.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was to attend a ceremony with Baltic leaders in Vilnius on Sunday.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Business Recorder
an hour ago
- Business Recorder
Attacks in central Nigeria kill at least 20
JOS: Attacks in north-central Nigeria's Plateau state have killed at least 20 people this week, local government and humanitarian sources said Wednesday, in the region's latest flare-up of violence. The three separate assaults across the Mangu local government area followed a series of attacks and reprisals that appear to have started while people were mining in the tin-rich region, local government council chairman Emmanuel Bala told AFP. Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers in Plateau, many of whom are Christian, over access to land and resources. Fuel tanker truck blast kills at least 60 in Nigeria Attacks in the region often fall across ethnic and religious lines, leading to indiscriminate sectarian reprisals. 'Sometime ago the natives were mining, they were attacked' with machetes, though no one died, Bala told AFP. Following a series of retaliations and counter-retaliations, three attacks took place Monday and Tuesday, leaving at least 20 dead, Bala said. Eight people were killed Tuesday night in the village of Chinchin by suspected Fulani assailants, Bala said. That attack followed an assault Tuesday outside Langai town, where five people were killed. On Monday, unknown attackers killed seven in Bwe district. Fulanis in the area have also been harassed and attacked in recent days following deadly assaults blamed on people from their ethnic group, Bala said. A Red Cross official confirmed the Chinchin toll and said the number of people killed across the 24-hour span could be as high as 21. Land used by farmers and herders in central Nigeria is coming under stress from climate change and human expansion, sparking deadly competition for increasingly limited space. Land grabbing, political and economic tensions between locals and those considered outsiders, as well as an influx of hardline Muslim and Christian preachers, have heightened divisions in recent decades. When violence flares, weak policing can mean reprisal attacks follow which often occur across communal lines. A spate of attacks across Plateau and neighbouring Benue state left more than 150 people dead in April alone. While high-profile killings blamed on herders have shocked the country, herders across the region say they are also the victims of deadly attacks by farmers, land grabs and cattle poisonings.


Business Recorder
3 hours ago
- Business Recorder
ECB's Lagarde slams ‘coercive trade policies' in Beijing visit
BEIJING: European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde warned Wednesday that 'coercive trade policies' risked harming supply chains and the global economy, and called for a de-escalation of a tariff standoff that has wiped billions off markets. Lagarde, one of the world's most influential central bankers, is visiting Beijing this week for talks with local counterparts on the Chinese economy and expanding cooperation. Her visit came as high-level China-US talks in London ended with an agreement to lower tensions after US President Donald Trump launched his tariff blitz in April. In a speech at the People's Bank of China – the country's central bank – she urged all parties to find solutions 'even in the face of geopolitical differences'. Lagarde urged countries to protect the 'multilateral framework' of international trade, which she said 'so greatly benefited our economies'. 'Coercive trade policies are far more likely to provoke retaliation and lead to outcomes that are mutually damaging,' she added. 'All countries should examine how their structural and fiscal policies can be adjusted to reduce their own role in fuelling trade tensions,' she said, calling for an end to 'mutually damaging escalation of tensions'. She warned that protectionism risked 'eroding the foundations of global prosperity'. Lagarde pitches euro alternative to dollar in 'fracturing' world Beijing and Brussels' trade policies have been slammed by Trump, who last month threatened to escalate tariffs on the European Union if it did not negotiate a swift deal. China, meanwhile, has sought to improve shaky relations with the bloc as a counterpoint to Trump. China and the European Union will host a summit next month marking 50 years since they established diplomatic ties. The two sides will discuss setting minimum prices for Chinese electric vehicles in Europe and opening a 'green channel' for rare earth exports to the 27-nation bloc, according to official statements.


Business Recorder
6 hours ago
- Business Recorder
US-Russian talks to take place in Moscow, Russian envoy says
MOSCOW: Talks between the United States and Russia on resolving issues in their bilateral relations will move to Moscow from Istanbul, Russia's new ambassador to Washington told the state TASS news agency. 'The recovery of Russian-American relations is still a long way off,' Ambassador Alexander Darchiev told TASS, adding that the rapprochement with Moscow was being slowed by the so-called US 'deep state' and anti-Russian 'hawks' in Congress. 'I can confirm that the next negotiations of the delegations will take place in the very near future in Moscow,' Darchiev was quoted as saying. The war in Ukraine triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War. Ukraine, US to meet in Riyadh after Russia-US Black Sea ceasefire talks Senior diplomats in both Moscow and Washington told Reuters in 2024 that they could not recall relations ever being worse. The administration of US President Donald Trump casts the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war between the United States and Russia, and Trump has repeatedly warned of the risk of it escalating into a world war.