The Baltic states have stopped importing Russian natural gas which “has not been supplied to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania since April 1”, the head of the Latvian storage company Conexus Baltic Grid said on Saturday. .
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“Years ago, my country took decisions that allow us today to easily sever energy ties with the aggressor,” Uldis Bariss, CEO of Conexus Baltic Grid told Latvian radio.
“If we can do it, the rest of Europe can do it too!” he said. The Baltic countries are now served by gas reserves stored underground in Latvia.
On Twitter, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also called on the rest of the European Union to follow the example of the Baltic countries: “From this month no more Russian gas in Lithuania,” he said. .
According to Eurostat, in 2020 Russia accounted for 93% of Estonian natural gas imports, 100% of Latvian imports and 41.8% of Lithuanian imports.
The United States banned the import of Russian oil and gas following the invasion of Ukraine, but not the EU, which was sourcing around 40% from Russia in 2021.
Moscow’s announcement on Thursday to force buyers from “unfriendly” countries to pay for Russian gas in rubles from accounts in Russia might, however, be a game-changer.
Germany, particularly dependent on Russian gas, said on Friday that it wanted to analyze the concrete consequences of this Kremlin decree, intended above all to support the ruble. Berlin, like the other EU countries, refuses any payment in rubles to Moscow.