The switchover to the European electricity network, which Baltic leaders said held geopolitical and symbolic significance, came more than three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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00:00Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has called Sunday a great day after the Baltic
00:06countries disconnected from the Soviet-era power grid and joined the European electricity
00:11network. The switchover, which the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said held
00:17geopolitical significance, came more than three decades after the collapse of the Soviet
00:22Union. It ends the Baltic countries' final ties to Russia.
00:28Their energy systems are now fully synchronized with the European continental system. Ukraine
00:36has already done this in 2022, and now the Baltic states have also got rid of their dependence.
00:42Moscow will no longer be able to use energy as a weapon against the Baltic states.
00:49All remaining transmission lines between the Baltics and Russia, Belarus and the Russian
00:54Republic of Kaliningrad, were switched off one by one. The Baltic power system was then
00:59merged with the European energy network through links with Finland, Sweden and Poland. EU
01:04Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the changeover was about more than just
01:09energy.
01:11It is about European integration. It is about European sovereignty. It is about proving
01:19once again that when we come together, we can move mountains. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia,
01:32you are at the heart of Europe. You work tirelessly for this moment. And today, all of Europe
01:42celebrates with you.
01:45The Baltic countries, which are all NATO members, have often had difficult ties with Russia
01:49since declaring independence from the USSR in 1990. Relations hit a new low over Russia's
01:56full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 16 power lines that used to connect the Baltic
02:02states with Russia and Belarus were dismantled in recent years as a new grid linking them
02:07with the rest of the EU was created.
02:10The three Baltic countries informed Moscow and Minsk of the disconnection plan in 2024
02:15to head off any hostile reaction.