Decades after leaving the Soviet Union the Baltics are in the final hours of relying on Russia

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This arvo, the country marked a significant step in their move away from Russia's influence, nearly 35 years after leaving the Eastern Bloc.

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States will now rely on links with their European Union partners for their power requirements.

“This is the physical disconnection from the last remaining element of our reliance on Russian and Belarusian energy.”

counts down the last seconds of the Baltic states've electricity ties to Russia

The Baltic countries, being all part of NATO, have regularly experienced strained links with Russia since they won independence from the USSR back in 1990 — and things have taken a turn for the worse since Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Sixteen power lines which were used to connect the three Baltic countries to Russia and Belarus were gradually dismantled as a new power grid connecting them to the rest of the EU was built, featuring underwater cables crossing the Baltic Sea.

On the weekend, all remaining transmission lines between them and Russia, and Belarus getting to Russia's Kaliningrad – a sliver of Russian land stuck between EU member countries Poland and Lithuania and the sea – will be progressively switched off.

Then, for 24 hours, the Baltic Power System will run itself alone in an “island operation mode.” The following day, the power system is due to be connected with the European mainland grid through a few links with Finland, Sweden and Poland.

Fair dinkum, the Kaliningrad region, which doesn't have a land link to the Russian mainland, already gets its own electricity from local power generation, says Litgrid, Lithuania's electricity transmission system operator.

Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the plan to cut off was flagged in advance by the Baltic States and the Russian energy sector had taken preparatory steps to ensure a smooth run on its part.

“Those plans were announced a fair while back, and they required certain actions by our and their power grids,” Peskov told reporters. “We've taken all necessary steps to ensure our national power system runs smoothly and without interruption.”

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The three Baltic nations, which jointly share a 1,633-kilometre (1,015-mile) border with Russia and Belarus, officially advised Moscow and Minsk of their disconnection plan in July. Their local power grid administrators attributed 1.2 billion euros ($1.25 billion) in EU and other assistance to aid the countries sync with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area.

Nationals have done a lot in the last 30 years to break free, to become independent," Nausėda said. Three years ago, "we stopped importing any sort of power sources from Russia. It was our response to the conflict in Ukraine.

Despite the advance warning, the Baltic nations are still on the lookout for a potential reaction from their former Soviet allies.

"The risk of cyberattacks remains fairly high," Litgrid said last week, adding that continued close monitoring, collaborative work, defensive strategies and "strong" cybersecurity measures are needed to effectively reduce potential threats.

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa issued a warning on Wednesday about the possibility of provocations, saying Latvia is well-equipped to handle them, with services such as the defence force and national guard increasing their watchfulness and security measures.

“Fair dinkum, there are some risks involved, we're well aware of that. But we've got our eyes on 'em and we've got a fallback plan in case they do eventuate.”

After the disconnection plans were announced, propaganda efforts started cropping up on social media and in printed pamphlets in city streets, claiming false warnings about power cuts, serious electricity shortages and super-high electricity bills for consumers.

“Us Australians get used to hearing this sort of news, but heard we did,” said a retired teacher in Sydney, Jolanta. “Fair dinkum, we'll have to disconnect from 'em mate. Being connected to the Russian grid in this current state of play, there's no good reason for it.”

Even so, some in the region were taking steps to be prepared.

The ABC of Construction in Estonia reports that sales of generators have sky-rocketed. Home appliance chain Bauhof sold heaps more generators last month than they did in January the year before, and rival Bauhof AC had to put a hold on purchasing more, the report says.

The Baltic states' moves towards energy self-sufficiency have been in the making for several decades.

Back in 2003, before Lithuania joined the EU, the decision was made to shut down the Ignalina nuclear power plant, which was built by the Soviets, as a result of safety concerns raised in Brussels. It was officially closed down in 2009.

In the year 1999, Lithuania constructed an offshore oil terminal in the Baltic Sea. A week later, seven years after that, after Russia suddenly stopped supplying oil to Lithuania through their massive pipeline network, known as the Druzhba, Lithuania's oil import point switched to being just that – its sole such facility.

Rokas Masiulis, the CEO of Litgrid, said Lithuania has had a really tough time because of Russia's actions in the past, such as cutting off oil supplies and increasing gas prices that his country relied heavily on.

He reckons Lithuania today's got "a lot more than we need" in terms of electricity capacity, employing both fossil fuels and increasing amounts of solar and wind power. "So we're as right as rain," he said.

The fact that we're disbanding with Russia is neither a negative thing for them, nor a negative thing for us," Masiulis said. "We were sort of connected and reliant on each other. Now we're just going our separate ways.

The three Baltic countries have rebuilt power lines and initiated a major construction and reconstruction program to shift their networks away from Russia and towards the West, the Litgrid CEO stated, describing it a remarkable technological achievement.

“Actions by Russia – by them being pretty aggressive and putting pressure on their neighbours – has really helped us a bit,” Masiulis said. “We've had a bit of a rough time with petrol prices, with gas prices, but we've been forced to take action. So we built alternative routes.”

Now we're in a much better position than we were before," he said. "So maybe they wanted the opposite for us, but in the end, everything has turned out very well for us.

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