Baltic nations ditch Russian power grid in ‘victory for freedom'
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – all former Soviet republics now in the European Union and Nato – had wanted to block Russia's ability to geopolitically blackmail them via the electricity system.
Zygimantas Vaiciunas, Lithuania's energy minister, told AFP on Saturday: 'We have removed any theoretical possibility of Russia using energy [grid] control as a weapon.'
Kaja Kallas, the EU foreign policy chief and Estonia's former prime minister, hailed the grid switch as 'a victory for freedom and European unity'.
Mr Vaiciunas said the Baltic states had completed the disconnection process at 9.09 local time (07.09 GMT) on Saturday.
'We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,' he told reporters, after speaking with his Estonian and Latvian counterparts.
'The energy system of the Baltic states is finally in our own hands. We are in control,' he added of the 'historic' moment.
Official celebrations are planned across the Baltics. Authorities are on guard for any potential cyber-attacks linked to the grid switch.
Latvia physically cut a power line to Russia on Saturday and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, is expected to attend a ceremony with Baltic leaders in Vilnius on Sunday.
The Baltics have long prepared to integrate with the European grid but they have faced technological and financial issues.
The switch became more urgent after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, which spooked the Baltic states into thinking that they could be targeted.
They stopped purchasing Russian gas and electricity after the invasion but their power grids remained connected to Russia and Belarus, controlled from Moscow.
This left them dependent on Moscow for a stable electricity flow, which is crucial for factories and facilities requiring a reliable power supply.
The Baltic states will operate in 'isolated mode' for about 24 hours to test their frequency, or power levels, according to Litgrid, Lithuania's state-run grid operator, before they integrate with the European grid on Sunday.
Rokas Masiulis., the Litgrid head, previously said: 'We need to carry out some tests to assure Europe that we are a stable energy system.
'We'll switch power stations on and off, observe how the frequency fluctuates and assess our ability to control it.'
The states will then integrate into the European power grid via Poland.
Authorities have warned of potential risks linked to the change.
Lithuania's state security department told AFP: 'Various short-term risks are possible, such as kinetic operations against critical infrastructure, cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns.'
Poland's power grid operator PSE had said it would use helicopters and drones to patrol the connection with Lithuania.
Edgars Rinkevics, the Latvian president, told LTV1 that the countries could not 'rule out possible provocations'.
In Estonia, police and volunteer defence corps will man critical electrical infrastructure until next weekend because of the risk of sabotage.
Several undersea telecom and power cables have been severed in the Baltic Sea in recent months. Some experts and politicians have accused Russia of waging a hybrid war, an allegation that Moscow denies.
A total of €1.6 billion euros ($1.7 billion) – mostly EU funds – have been invested in the synchronisation project across the Baltic states and Poland.
Gitanas Nauseda, the Lithuanian president, was sure that the switch would go smoothly, telling reporters: 'People won't feel it, either in terms of their bills or any inconvenience.'
Estonia's climate ministry urged everyone to carry on as usual as 'the more regular and predictable the behaviour... the easier it is to manage the power grid'.
But some consumers are worried about power cuts and home improvement stores in Estonia noted a sharp increase in sales of generators.
After the Baltic decoupling, the energy system in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad will lose its grid connection to mainland Russia.
Kaliningrad has been building up power generation capacity for years and Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, dismissed all concerns.
Asked about the cut-off last week, he said: 'We have taken all measures to ensure the uninterrupted reliable operation of our unified energy system.'
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
4 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Hit With Epstein Question During EU Deal Announcement
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump hit back at a reporter who asked a question about Jeffrey Epstein during a news conference announcing a trade framework between the United States and the European Union. "Mr. President, was part of the rush to get this deal done to knock the Jeffrey Epstein story [out of the headlines]?" the reporter asked during the news conference in Turnberry, Scotland, on Sunday. "Oh, you gotta be kidding with that," Trump said. "No, had nothing to do with it. Only you would think that. That had nothing to do with it." Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a joint press briefing with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after agreeing on a trade deal between the two economies following their meeting in Turnberry, Scotland, on... U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a joint press briefing with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after agreeing on a trade deal between the two economies following their meeting in Turnberry, Scotland, on July 27. More Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Why It Matters In recent weeks, Trump has struggled to shift the conversation from the Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who authorities said died by suicide behind bars in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The president has faced pressure from his supporters to release the government's files about Epstein, which they believe will reveal a cover-up in the case to protect Epstein's wealthy and powerful friends. Trump's personal relationship with Epstein has also come under fresh scrutiny. The Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump that his name was in the files during a briefing in May. Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and the inclusion of someone's name in files from the investigation does not imply otherwise. What To Know As he departed the White House for the trip to Scotland on Friday, Trump faced numerous questions about the Epstein case and whether he would pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex offender's imprisoned accomplice. "People should really focus on how well the country is doing," Trump said in response to one question. He shut down another, saying, "I don't want to talk about that." He faced another round of questions as he stepped off Air Force One in Scotland. "You're making a big thing over something that's not a big thing," he told one reporter. To another, he said, "I'm focused on making deals, not on conspiracy theories that you are." Previously, the Trump administration had promised to release more documents in the case, including an alleged list of clients involved in Epstein's sex trafficking operation. However, in an unsigned memo issued on July 7, the FBI and the Justice Department said Epstein did not have a list of clients and that no additional records would be released to the public. Since then, the Trump administration has received a bipartisan backlash and has scrambled to appear transparent, including by seeking the unsealing of grand jury transcripts in the case—which a judge has rejected. What People Are Saying President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday: "The Radical Left Democrats are doing everything in their power to distract and obfuscate from our GREAT six months of service to America, results of which many are saying is the BEST six months in Presidential history. They have gone absolutely CRAZY, and are playing another Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax but, this time, under the guise of what we will call the Jeffrey Epstein SCAM." The Democrats' X account wrote on Saturday, alongside a video detailing Trump's relationship with Epstein: "No matter how much he tries to distract from it, Trump's connection to Jeffrey Epstein spans decades." Democratic Representative Jason Crow of Colorado said on Fox News Sunday, discussing the Trump administration's allegations that the Obama administration manufactured intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 election: "This is being reinvigorated and concocted because Donald Trump doesn't want to talk about the Epstein files. He doesn't want those files released. In fact, I'm sitting here right now instead of in Washington because House Republicans released the Congress. We went on recess early to avoid a vote on releasing the Epstein files." What Happens Next Trump is likely to continue receiving questions about the Epstein case. The president is set to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday before traveling to Aberdeen, Scotland. This article contains reporting from the Associated Press.
New York Times
34 minutes ago
- New York Times
Europe Cuts a Trade Deal With Trump, Worried About Other Global Issues
Survive and advance. That phrase, favored by sports teams in big tournaments, sums up Europe's approach to the trade negotiations it just wrapped with the Trump administration. For Europe, surviving in the first year of President Trump's second term means reaching an agreement on a trade deal that almost certainly won't help the continental economy — but isn't as bad as it could have been. Advancing means keeping Mr. Trump engaged in the foreign policy issues that have preoccupied many European leaders more this summer than their own domestic economic struggles. Those issues include the fate of the Iranian nuclear program, the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and, most important, Ukraine's ongoing war against Russia's invasion. The trade deal is centered on a tariff of 15 percent on most goods imposed by the United States on imports from the European Union. It reflects a sort of risk aversion from leaders like Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission; Friedrich Merz, the chancellor of Germany; and Emmanuel Macron, the president of France. Those leaders were not willing to risk escalating a trade war that could have hurt European companies more than Mr. Trump's tariffs already have. And they were not willing to risk deepening a diplomatic rift with the United States, the country Europeans have repeatedly cast as a crucial peace broker. 'It will bring stability,' Ms. von der Leyen said at a news conference with Mr. Trump in Scotland on Sunday. 'It will bring predictability. That's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.' Europe could have fought Mr. Trump longer, hoping for better terms. E.U. members had already agreed to a set of retaliatory tariffs on about $100 billion in American exports to Europe, which they could have decided to trigger if Mr. Trump had followed through on his threat to tax European exports at 30 percent starting on Aug. 1. Mr. Trump had pushed similar deadlines back before. In recent days, statements from German, French and other officials suggested members of the bloc were moving closer together on the questions of whether to actually retaliate, and when. They had reasons to do that. The European Union could use more economic growth. Economists outside the Trump administration have generally warned that tariffs hurt growth instead of boosting it. (In their models, tariffs on imports hurt American growth, too.) Europe's leaders generally agree with those economists. 'These tariffs, regardless of their long-term level, harm us all,' Mr. Merz told reporters this month, before the deal was struck. 'Not just us Europeans, but, in my firm conviction, also harm the American economy in the longer term.' But a moment later, Mr. Merz sounded resigned to a big tariff increase no matter what deal was struck. 'President Trump repeatedly emphasizes that he loves tariffs,' he said. 'This means we will have to accept that the American government will act this way, at least as long as the trade deficit persists from their perspective.' In a news release on Sunday, Mr. Merz cheered the deal but added, almost wistfully, 'I would have certainly welcomed further facilitation of trans-Atlantic trade.' The chancellor and his counterparts across Europe have expressed no such resignation when it comes to Mr. Trump and Ukraine. In phone calls and text messages, on treks to the White House and in summit meetings in Canada and the Netherlands, they have pushed him to shake off his friendliness with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and to back Kyiv in its war effort. The Europeans have flattered Mr. Trump. They have exhorted him. And they have refused to back down from their grand hope that American support for Ukraine could force Mr. Putin into peace talks and bring an end to the conflict. Sunday's deal reduces the chances that trade tensions will complicate that or other foreign policy appeals to Mr. Trump. But it does not eliminate them. Canada and Mexico illustrate why. They renegotiated their trade agreement with the United States in Mr. Trump's first term — only to find themselves back in talks now. 'We'd caution strongly against taking the announced deals as the final word,' researchers from Pantheon Macroeconomics, a research firm that focuses on the global economy, warned this week, citing court challenges and other uncertainty. Many European officials privately say the same is true of Mr. Trump's pledges of support for Ukraine or his commitment to the defense of NATO allies should they come under attack. They know his positions can change. His mood can shift. The terms of his deals are always subject to renegotiation. That's the thing about surviving and advancing with Mr. Trump. Every day brings another game.
New York Times
34 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: President to Host Starmer at His Golf Courses in Scotland
The United States and the European Union also agreed to drop tariffs to zero on a range of goods, including aircraft, plane parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment and some agricultural products. The European Union and the United States agreed on Sunday to a broad-brush trade deal that sets a 15 percent tariff on most E.U. goods, including cars and pharmaceuticals, averting what could have become a painful trade war with a bloc that is the United States' single biggest source of imports. President Trump said that the European Union had agreed to purchase $750 billion of American energy, which Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the E.U.'s executive branch, told reporters would be spread out over three years. The 27-nation bloc also agreed to increase its investment in the United States by more than $600 billion above current levels, Mr. Trump said, adding that the European Union would buy military equipment. A senior U.S. official said that those investments would include pharmaceuticals and the automotive industry, among others. The two sides also agreed to drop tariffs to zero on a range of goods, including aircraft, plane parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment and some agricultural products, Ms. von der Leyen said. Altogether, while it was clear that major details still needed to be hammered out, the framework seemed likely to permanently reshape the trading relationship between two of the world's largest and most interconnected economies. The agreement will 'rebalance, but enable trade on both sides,' Ms. von der Leyen said as she sat next to Mr. Trump and the leaders made the announcement. 'We made it,' Mr. Trump said. Not all higher tariffs were eliminated. A senior U.S. official said the 50 percent tariff the Trump administration had imposed on steel and aluminum globally was not part of the deal, though Ms. von der Leyen suggested that those might be reduced through further negotiation. The U.S. official added that European pharmaceutical and semiconductor exports will be subject to a 15 percent tariff, regardless of what tariffs the Trump administration ultimately levies on those industries in other countries. The administration is currently preparing an investigation that will apply tariffs to those sectors globally, which the official said could come in two or three weeks. Pharmaceuticals are Europe's most important export to the United States, and those pending tariffs had become an obstacle to resolving the trade talks. Ms. von der Leyen said that no decisions had been made yet on whether wine and spirits would be exempt. That is something that 'has to be sorted out in the next days,' she said. Like many preliminary agreements Mr. Trump has announced, this one had few details. For some of the 'deals' that Mr. Trump reached, other governments have seemed to lack clarity on what exactly they agreed to, and it remains unclear which tariff rates will apply to which products as of Aug. 1. Though the agreement leaves many questions to be resolved, it could bring a measure of calm to one of the world's most important economic relationships and allay fears of an escalating trade war. The European Union last year accounted for nearly $610 billion of the $3.3 trillion in goods imported by the United States. The 15 percent tariff rate given to Europe mirrors the main tariff rate of the U.S.-Japanese trade agreement that was announced last Tuesday, and is lower than the 19 and 20 percent rates imposed on several Southeast Asian countries. But it is higher than the 10 percent tax that Europeans had been angling for, and that Mr. Trump applied to British goods. It's also much higher than tariffs have been historically. According to the World Trade Organization, before Mr. Trump came into office, the trade-weighted tariff the United States charged on foreign goods was 2.2 percent, while the European Union's was 2.7 percent. 'There's a lot of issues that I think are still very unclear,' said Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group. 'If there aren't further exemptions to be negotiated to that 15 percent, I think it's a far more suboptimal deal than the member states were hoping to achieve.' The deal followed weeks of unpredictable talks. The Europeans believed they were close to a deal, only to have Mr. Trump send them a letter on July 11 threatening a rate of 30 percent unless an agreement was reached by Aug. 1. Even after that announcement, Ms. von Der Leyen had stressed the importance of continuing talks and trying to reach a negotiated deal. But the European Union also continued working to put the finishing touches on a plan to retaliate against Mr. Trump's tariffs, one that could be enacted quickly if needed. They finalized that raft of potential countermeasures last week. The goal was to create leverage. And, if talks broke down, some of the 27 E.U. member states thought that having a plan to hit back was essential. The new deal may prevent any retaliation and thus avoid a tit-for-tat trade war that could have been economically damaging for both sides. A trade conflict could also have further soured the European Union and United States' relationship — already strained this year by issues surrounding military spending, support for Ukraine, free speech and technology regulation. 'The European response on trade would have been fundamentally different had they not been worried about backlash in these other geopolitical theaters,' Mr. Rahman said. U.S. officials said that they had met with the Europeans for round after round of negotiations, with the E.U. originally not offering many concessions. But after Mr. Trump sent the bloc a letter threatening stiff tariffs, they made more headway. The Europeans had also acknowledged Mr. Trump's argument that the trade relationship was unbalanced and needed to be corrected, the officials said. Bringing down the tariff on European auto exports was another sticking point for the Europeans, especially Germany, the largest E.U. economy. Mr. Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on foreign cars and car parts in April. European automakers, which sent cars worth 38.5 billion euros ($45 billion) to the United States last year, have been suffering under those hefty rates. 'The agreement successfully averted a trade conflict that would have hit the export-oriented German economy hard,' Friedrich Merz, Germany's chancellor, said in a comment after the announcement. Mr. Trump also lowered the tariff rate on Japanese auto exports to 15 percent as part of the deal announced last week. But those exemptions have raised immediate concern among auto manufacturers elsewhere, including in the United States, Mexico and South Korea, which are still paying higher tariffs. Patrick Anderson, the chief executive of Anderson Economic Group, said the difference could lead to 'a cost penalty of thousands of dollars per vehicle for numerous models assembled in the U.S.' that use foreign parts. 'How can the administration square a 15 percent tariff on cars from Europe and Japan, while manufacturers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico are laboring under 25 percent tariffs?' he asked. Ms. von der Leyen acknowledged that the tariffs that will now prevail are much higher than the 2.5 percent that applied before the Trump administration came into office. But she also pointed out that the 15 percent rate that negotiators had managed to arrive at was much lower than what might have prevailed had no deal been reached. 'We should not forget where we came from,' Ms. von der Leyen said.
