The flow of electricity between the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Russia was officially severed Saturday morning after officials switched off the Soviet-era grid’s transmission lines and prepared to join the rest of Europe on Sunday.

After disconnecting on Saturday from the IPS/UPS network, established by the Soviet Union in the 1950s and now run by Russia, the Baltic nations cut cross-border high-voltage transmission lines in eastern Latvia, some 100 metres from the Russian border, handing out pieces of chopped wire to enthusiastic bystanders as keepsakes.

The so-called Brell power grid - which stands for Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania - is controlled almost entirely by Moscow and has long been seen as a vulnerability for the former Soviet republics, which are now Nato members.

The Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania integrated their electricity grids into the European network on Sunday following their disconnection from Russia's energy system. The three EU states - all also members of NATO - were hooked up to Poland and the Continental European grid via the LitPol Link power line,

The Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have successfully disconnected their electricity grids from Russia, joining the European continental power grid.

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 Baltics severed ties with the Russian grid in a move that aims for closer integration with the EU and stronger regional energy security.

"Goodbye Russia, goodbye Lenin," says the President of Lithuania in a video posted on his social media account. In this humorous way, Gitanas Nauseda summed up his country's decision to disconnect from Russia's energy system.