Lithuania will no longer import Russian gas to meet its domestic needs, making it the first country in Europe to achieve independence from Russian supplies, according to the country’s energy ministry on Saturday.
The ministry said in a statement that all natural gas for domestic consumption in Lithuania will be imported through the liquified natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Klaipeda.
‘No more Russian gas in Lithuania from this month on,’ Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda tweeted on Saturday, claiming the country is cutting ‘energy relations with the aggressor.’
‘If we can achieve it, so can the rest of Europe,’ he continued.
Lithuania earlier stated that it would not permit any Russian LNG shipments.
The Independence LNG terminal in Klaipeda was opened in 2014 to end a Russian gas supply monopoly that then-President Dalia Grybauskaite described as a ‘existential menace’ to the country.
Lithuania, on the other hand, is not stopping the transport of Russian gas to the Kaliningrad exclave. On Saturday evening, the gas grid website in Lithuania showed nearly the same amount of gas coming from Belarus as was being sent to Kaliningrad.
The government also stated that the move away from Russian supplies protected the country from a recent Russian demand to pay for gas in roubles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that international purchasers pay for Russian gas in Russian currency beginning Friday or face having their supply stopped, a move that European countries have condemned and Germany has called ‘blackmail.’
‘Under the conditions, Russia’s demand for payment in roubles becomes meaningless, because Lithuania no longer orders gas and does not expect any future payments,’ the energy ministry said in a statement.
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