Russia stops supplying electricity to Lithuania
Litgrid, Lithuania's electricity transmission system operator, announced on May 22 that Russia had stopped supplying electricity to the country.
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| Illustration photo. Getty Images |
Inter RAO, the sole importer of Russian electricity to Lithuania, confirmed the move. Earlier this month, Inter RAO’s Nordic branch also stopped selling electricity to Finland.
On May 20, the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy announced that it would stop buying electricity from Russia because it could not pay in rubles.
“According to the decision of the operator of the Nord Pool electricity exchange, the trading of electricity produced in Russia by Inter RAO (through its subsidiary Inter RAO Loiuva) will cease from May 22,” the statement reads.
After the Russian supply is cut off, Lithuania plans to meet demand through local power plants and imports from other European countries, such as Sweden, Poland and Latvia, said Litgrid CEO Rokas Masiulis. According to the company, Russian electricity imports account for 16% of Lithuania's consumption.
Last month, Lithuania became the first European Union (EU) member state to refuse to import gas and oil from Moscow.
