Baltic countries will unplug from Russian grid in February 2025

The small states will finally sever the last ties of Soviet Union legacy

The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) dissolved 33 years ago and since then the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) have taken a completely different direction of development from their former Soviet peers Russia and Belarus. Over the years the three small states got integrated into the Western liberal-based order by becoming members of the EU (plus Schengen and Eurozone) and NATO. Over the past two and a half years even a sort of a new ‘Iron Curtain’ has descended between the Baltics and Russia following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine, with the EU states banning the entry of Russian tourists on their territory.

Given all of the above, you might be shocked to find out that despite these different political trajectories the Baltic states and Russia have remained very much united when it comes to their electricity supply. They are all part of the BRELL network (also including Belarus) controlled by Moscow. In an age where the main theme across Europe is ‘energy independence from Russia’ that surely seems like a head-scratcher.

Well, it’s all about to be rectified as earlier this week the Baltic governments informed Russia and Belarus that they intend to decouple from the BRELL network on 7 February 2025 when the agreement is set to expire. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will then join the European continental grid on 9 February completing in a sense their integration with the West.

Why did they wait so long?

What may also surprise you is that even Ukraine and Moldova have already synchronized their electrical networks with the European continental grid. That happened soon after the Russian invasion as it was necessitated to ensure that the invaded country would have external support in terms of power supply. However, even before the start of the war, there were already plans in Ukraine to initiate a shift to the European grid.

Talks of decoupling from the Russian grid had also been in place for many years in the Baltics. In fact, already in 2007, the prime ministers of these countries confirmed that it was their strategic objective to do so and in 2019 an agreement was signed for the synchronization with the European electrical network.

Then the war happened and there was a lot of anxiety about what this may mean for the small states. Fortunately, they don’t buy electricity from Russia, however, Moscow can control the frequency of the electric current. Estonia and Latvia determined that their systems wouldn’t be technically ready to exit the BRELL agreement prematurely, thus in the end it was decided to use the time until the formal deadline to prepare for the switch.

Synchronisation will enable better EU transmission system interconnectivity and market integration, allowing Baltic electricity systems to operate under common and transparent European rules to the benefit of all consumers.

It will also foster the development of renewable energy in the Baltic states and Poland, as newly installed power lines, substations and synchronous condensers will increase the ability of transmission grids to support a higher share of renewable sources in overall electricity generation.