Following international sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, Russian electricity exporter Inter RAO has since Sunday lost the possibility to sell electricity to these customers in the Baltic countries.
This is an important step on our path to energy independenceLithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys told Agence France-Presse on Sunday.
On Friday, energy exchange Nord Pool sent a notice to the Inter RAO that the latter had banned trade with the Baltic countries, following international sanctions.
For many years, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have been striving to achieve energy independence from Moscow by increasing domestic electricity production as well as building grid interconnections in Scandinavia and other neighboring countries.
As a result, electricity imports from Russia to Latvia and Lithuania dropped to 300 MWh last year, which were previously 1,300 megawatt hours (MWh) per year and have now completely stopped.
Latvia last imported electricity to Russia in early May, while Lithuania and Estonia stopped buying it on Sunday.
By refusing to import Russia’s energy resources, we refuse to finance the aggressorsaid the Lithuanian minister.
Russia’s electricity accounted for 17% of Lithuania’s electricity imports last year.
On Saturday, Finland cut off its gas, with Russian supplier Gazprom shutting down taps because Finnish company Gasum refused to pay its bills in rubles, as requested by Moscow recently.
Source: Radio-Canada
