LITHUANIA SAYS IT has cut itself off entirely from gas imports from Russia, apparently becoming the first of the European Union’s 27 nations using Russian gas to break its energy dependence on Moscow.

“Seeking full energy independence from Russian gas, in response to Russia’s energy blackmail in Europe and the war in Ukraine, Lithuania has completely abandoned Russian gas,” Lithuania’s energy ministry said in a statement late on Saturday.

The ministry added that the measure took effect at the beginning of April.

Lithuania managed to reduce imports of Russian gas to zero on Saturday, a move seen as a milestone in achieving energy independence in the former Soviet republic of 2.8 million, the ministry said.

“We are the first EU country among Gazprom’s supply countries to gain independence from Russian gas supplies, and this is the result of a multi-year coherent energy policy and timely infrastructure decisions,” minister of energy Dainius Kreivys said.

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda posted an upbeat tweet on his account about the development and urged other European nations to follow suit.

He wrote: “From this month on — no more Russian gas in Lithuania. Years ago, my country made decisions that today allow us with no pain to break energy ties with the aggressor. If we can do it, the rest of Europe can do it too!”

In 2015, nearly 100% of Lithuania’s gas supplies derived from imports of Russian gas but the situation has changed drastically over the past years after the country built an off-shore LNG (liquefied natural gas) import terminal, launched in 2014, in the port city of Klaipeda.

The energy ministry said that from now on all gas for Lithuania’s domestic consumption would be imported via Klaipeda’s LNG terminal.

From this month on - no more Russian gas in Lithuania 🇱🇹.

Years ago my country made decisions that today allow us with no pain to break energy ties with the agressor.

If we can do it, the rest of Europe 🇪🇺 can do it too!

— Gitanas Nausėda (@GitanasNauseda) April 2, 2022

Last year, some 26% of Lithuania’s gas supplies derived from deliveries from a Russian gas pipeline while 62% came via Klaipeda’s LNG terminal and the remaining 12% were imported from gas storage in neighbouring Latvia.

Baltic neighbours Latvia and Estonia are also heavily dependent on Russian gas but the operator of Latvia’s natural gas storage said none of the three Baltic states were importing Russian gas as of April 2.

Uldis Bariss, the chief executive of Conexus Baltic Grid, told Latvian media on Saturday that the Baltic gas market was currently being served by gas reserves stored underground in Latvia.

Last month, Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Simonyte said Klaipeda’s LNG terminal would not have enough capacity to provide gas for all the three Baltic countries.

As a solution, Estonia’s government has proposed building a LNG terminal jointly with Latvia and Nordic neighbour Finland in the Estonian port city of Paldiski, which is not far from the capital, Tallinn.