Russia could cause power blackout in Lithuania amid elections: report
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
22.05.2019 13:55
Lithuania may face a power blackout during European and presidential elections this weekend as Russia temporarily disconnects its Kaliningrad exclave from neighbouring energy systems, according to a Polish website.
Photo: Nikiko/pixabay.com
The move is a Russian response to plans for Baltic states to hook up with a European energy system, the energetyka24.com website reported.
Lithuania is currently dependent on imported power, which comes in part from Russia, the website reported.
“A scenario cannot be excluded in which, during the elections to the European Parliament and the second round of a presidential election, a massive failure of the power grid occurs in Lithuania,” energetyka24.com said.
The website added that a source in the Lithuanian government administration has confirmed that such a risk exists.
But the website cited its source as saying that Lithuania had contingency plans ready.
“However, it is difficult to imagine the chaos that would prevail in the region,”energetyka24.com said.
Russia may be aiming to discourage the Baltic states from decoupling from the Russian BRELL system and synchronising with the European ENTSO-E electricity transmission system, according to energetyka24.com.
(pk/gs)
Source: energetyka24.com