Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the disconnection of the Baltic states from the Russian energy grid an important event for Europe and urged the EU to join Ukraine’s sanctions against Russia in the energy sector.

Source: Zelenskyy in his evening address

Quote: "Today marks an important event for our region and for Europe as a whole. The Baltic states – good friends of Ukraine – have disconnected from the Russian energy grid. Their energy systems are now fully synchronised with the European continental system. Ukraine had already done this in 2022, and now the Baltic states have also freed themselves from dependency.

Moscow will no longer be able to use energy as a weapon against the Baltic states. This also means that Europe has become even more cohesive. This is exactly the course all of us in Europe should continue to follow across the continent. This is in particular relevant for Central European countries – those that still have agreements with Russia. We need to work more closely with America – LNG gas, oil. We need to work more closely with our partners in countries neighboring the European Union, in this region, to import the necessary energy. The Caucasus, the Middle East, North Africa."

Details: Zelenskyy emphasised that the less Europe depends on Russia, the sooner reliable security can be ensured for everyone on the continent.

At the same time, he called on the EU to counter Russia’s attempts to "use its tankers and its fleet against us, against all of Europe".

Quote:"In Ukraine, we have recently expanded the sanctions so that not only Russian tankers are sanctioned, not only the companies they are registered under, but also so that the captains of these vessels, the people who work for this war, feel this pressure. This needs to be upheld at the European level – the European Union must join these sanctions in the energy sector." 

Background: 

• Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia synchronised their power grids with continental Europe on Sunday, 9 February after 14:00.
• Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator Litgrid said that the Baltic states' power system is operating smoothly after being disconnected from Russia and Belarus.

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