Lithuania and Russia make a complete cut: from May 22, the import of Russian oil, gas and electricity will be completely stopped

Lithuania chose to cut through with Russian imported energy
.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Energy released news on May 20, local time, that Nord Pool, the Nordic electricity exchange, has decided to stop power trading with Russia's Inter RAO, Russia's only electricity exporter
to the Baltic states.
This means that from Sunday (May 22), Lithuania will completely cut off Russian energy imports, including oil, electricity and natural gas
.

Inter RAO said on the 20th that it received a notice
from the Nord Pool exchange about suspending trading Russian electricity.

"This is not only an extremely important milestone in Lithuania's move towards energy independence, but also a manifestation of
our solidarity with Ukraine.
We must stop financing the Russian war machine
.
Lithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys stressed in an official statement that when the country successfully implements the synchronization of the Baltic State Grid, meets electricity demand with indigenous green energy sources and becomes an electricity exporter, it will achieve full energy independence
.

Lithuania's energy ministry says the country is importing U.
S.
liquefied natural gas to meet its gas demand through the Klaip?da receiving station, securing electricity through local power plants and existing interconnected grids with Sweden, Poland and Latvia, while Lithuania's sole oil importer, Orlen Lietuva, refused to import Russian crude
more than a month ago.

Litgrid, a Lithuanian transmission system operator, announced on May 21 that the Baltic states would no longer trade Russian electricity
from Sunday.

Litgrid, an operator of Lithuania's transmission system, said the country's imports of electricity from Russia are a thing of the past

Litgrid also said that Lithuania has been targeting targeted reductions in electricity imports
from Russia in recent years.
In 2021, Russian electricity accounted for 17% of Lithuania's total electricity imports and 16%
of Lithuania's total electricity consumption.

Lithuania was the first country
in Europe to voluntarily stop importing Russian gas.
On April 2, the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy announced that it would no longer import Russian gas from that month, declaring that "this is the first EU country independent of Russian gas supply among Gazprom's customers, the result of years of
energy policy implementation and timely infrastructure decisions.
" "On May 5, the Gas Interconnection Pipeline (GIPL) between Poland and Lithuania was officially opened
.
At the opening ceremony, EU Energy Commissioner Shimson called the two-year project "extraordinarily visionary" and "interconnected at the right time" because any EU member state could become the target of Russia's "use of energy for extortion.
"

On May 5, the Gas Interconnection Pipeline (GIPL) between Poland and Lithuania was officially opened
.
At the opening ceremony, EU Energy Commissioner Shimson called the two-year project "extraordinarily visionary" and "interconnected at the right time" because any EU member state could become the target of Russia's "use of energy for extortion.
"

On May 5, the Gas Interconnection Pipeline (GIPL) between Poland and Lithuania was officially opened
.
With an expected capacity of 1.
9 billion cubic meters/year and a reverse capacity of 2 billion cubic meters per year in the next five months, the pipeline will increase the utilization rate of the Klaipėda LNG terminal in Lithuania and the Świnoujście terminal in Poland, allowing the two countries to increase LNG imports
using each other's infrastructure.
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland have also been connected to the EU gas transmission network through Poland, gaining access to more alternative options
than Russian pipeline gas.

At a time when Hungary has become the only stumbling block in the new round of EU sanctions against Russia, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis once suggested during the meeting of foreign ministers of EU member states that Ukraine should close the Russian gas and oil transit channel, because Hungary relies on Ukrainian transit traffic, which can solve Hungary's resistance
to oil embargo sanctions.

Lithuania is also a staunch opponent of the mechanism of the "ruble settlement order" for Russian gas
.
So far, Lithuania's initiative to cut off Russian energy imports is in stark contrast
to several other countries that have been notified by Russia to interrupt energy supplies.

Finnish grid operator Fingrid announced on May 13 that RAO Nordic Oy, a subsidiary of Russia's International Unified Power Group (Inter RAO), suspended electricity to Finland from 1 o'clock on May 14 due to "payment problems"
.

RAO Nordic Oy explained in the announcement that the company has been responsible for importing electricity from Russia to Finland for many years and selling it to the Nord Pool exchange
.
"Unfortunately, we note that volume fees sold on the Nord Pool exchange since May 6 have not been deposited into our bank account
.
This situation is exceptional, occurring for the first time in more than two decades of trading history
.
The company added, "Unfortunately, in the current lack of cash income, RAO Nordic is unable to pay for electricity
imported from Russia.
" As a result, we were forced to suspend electricity imports
from May 14.
We hope that the situation will improve as soon as possible and restore electricity trade
with Russia.
”

The timing of this is rather subtle
.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin issued a joint statement on the 12th, making it clear that Finland will apply to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
.
Russia responded on the same day that Finland's entry into NATO posed a direct threat to Russia, and Russia considered retaliation
.

Poland and Bulgaria were the first European countries to be cut off for rejecting the ruble settlement order, and Russia notified them of the interruption of gas supplies
since April 27.
It was followed by Finland, whose state-owned energy company Gasum announced on May 20 that it had received a notice from Gazprom Export that afternoon that it would stop supplying gas
to Finland from 7 o'clock on May 21 under the supply contract.