Baltic countries stop importing Russian electricity - Lithuanian Energy Ministry

VILNIUS. May 23 (Interfax/BNS) - Lithuania and other Baltic countries stopped importing Russian electricity on Sunday, the Lithuania Energy Ministry said.

According to the ministry, the Nord Pool pan-European power exchange stopped trading Russian electricity supplied by Inter RAI, the only supplier of electric power to Baltic countries, and Lithuania was using power from domestic generation facilities and imported through connections to Sweden, Poland and Latvia.

"Not only it is an extremely important milestone for Lithuania in its journey towards energy independence, but it is also an expression of our solidarity with Ukraine. We must stop financing Russian war machine," the statement quoted Lithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys as saying.

The minister noted that Lithuania would achieve full energy independence only in case of successful synchronization of its power grids with Western Europe, accommodation of the domestic demand for electricity with local green energy generation, and transformation into a country exporting electricity.

In turn, Litgrid Lithuanian power transmission system CEO Rokas Masiulis said that markets of third countries were not connected to the European electricity market and their quotations did not form prices in the Lithuanian trade zone, so the end of trade with Russia would not have a substantial impact on electricity prices in Lithuania.

According to Litgrid, Lithuania has been purposefully reducing imports of Russian electricity to Lithuania in recent years. Last year, imports of Russian electricity stood at 17% of overall Lithuanian imports and 16% of overall electricity consumption in Lithuania.