The switchover to the European electricity network, which Baltic leaders said held geopolitical and symbolic significance, came more than three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union. View on

The flow of electricity between the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Russia has been officially severed.

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania completed a switch from Russia's electricity grid to the EU's system on Sunday, severing Soviet-era ties amid heightened security after the suspected sabotage of several subsea cables and pipelines.

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are now unplugged from Russia's electricity grid and have joined the European Union's network. Plans for the move - which have been in the works since 2007 - were seen as essential for European security and had been brought brought forward after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The three Baltic states on Saturday seamlessly cut ties with Russia's power grid to integrate with the European Union's network, a switch that gained urgency with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, at the Presidential palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025.

More than 30 years after regaining their independence from the Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have disconnected themselves from the Russian energy system. Shortly after 9 am (0700 GMT) on Saturday,