Baltics disconnect from Russian grid: Decrease ‘vulnerability to Russian blackmail’

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00:00For some analysis, our foreign chief editor Rob Parsons joins me in the studio. Hi, Rob.

00:05First of all, help us get a grasp of the significance of the move.

00:09Well, it's really about trying to increase or decrease rather the vulnerability of the Baltic

00:17states, all three of which are members of the European Union, to Russian blackmail. They've

00:23been concerned about this for decades, almost since they became independent. But over the last

00:2810, 20 years or so, they've been taking active measures to try and decrease that vulnerability.

00:34This is the culmination of that. And they've been given a stimulus to try and get it done

00:38as fast as possible by the 22 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The concern that Russia would use

00:45its control of the power grid, the Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania power grid

00:51set up decades ago now to blackmail the Baltic states into doing what Russia wants.

00:58We've seen on countless occasions in the past where Russia has used its control of power with

01:03the European Union, gas, for instance, with Georgia gas, Ukraine gas, but electricity

01:10specifically. It was a possibility that the Ukrainians were very concerned about. So now

01:15they have broken that dependency. They switched off the link to that power grid today.

01:24The energy minister said we are now removing Russia's ability to use the electricity system

01:30as a tool of political blackmail. That's the Lithuanian energy minister. European Commissioner

01:36for Energy, who's in the Baltics at the moment to celebrate the transfer tomorrow, Sunday,

01:42to the European power grid said, I like the light better when there are no Russian electrons.

01:49Well, have there been any hitches today so far? And what can we

01:52expect to see tomorrow when they actually merge with the European network?

01:56No, actually, no. I mean, as the Baltic leaders themselves put it today, the big surprise

02:04is that there are no surprises, no nasty surprises. Everything seems to be going

02:09so far pretty smoothly. The Baltic states disconnected and the Russian side disconnected

02:16as well. So that has all gone very smoothly. There was concern, obviously, that the Russians

02:22would try something on, particularly in view of the numerous incidents over the last year

02:27beneath the Baltic Sea where cables connecting the Baltic countries were mysteriously severed

02:34or damaged. NATO has since set up a special patrol to keep an eye on the Baltic Sea and those

02:42electricity cables, which are so vital to the supply of the Baltic countries and to Finland as

02:47well. But no, the good news so far is that this is going well. Obviously, there's a lot of concern

02:57on the Baltic side that the Russians could try something on. And they've been rehearsing with

03:02NATO over the last several months, worst case scenarios. NATO says they're ready for anything

03:10that could happen. And bear in mind, too, that there is a vulnerability on the Russian side,

03:14particularly the enclave of Kaliningrad, Russian territory, which is wedged between

03:20Lithuania and Poland. It creates a lot of its own energy, but it is partially dependent

03:27on the Baltic states as well. And now it is severed completely from the Russian power grid

03:33because the Baltic states have severed. So for a while, at least, they will be dependent on the

03:39goodwill of the Baltic countries. So it doesn't make an awful lot of sense for Russia to stir

03:43things up too much with the Balts.

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