DISINFO: Lithuania will become a black hole in the energy map of Europe
SUMMARY
Latvia and Belarus are discussing the possibility of laying the electricity power lines to bypass Lithuania. The implementation of this project is spurred by the Lithuanian authorities, who intend to block access of BelAES products to consumers from third countries. To prevent a sharp jump in electricity prices, Latvia and Estonia are forced to isolate themselves from Lithuania, and not from Belarus. If current trends continue, in a few years Lithuania risks becoming a black hole on the energy map of the Baltic states.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Lithuania and the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant in Belarus. On 20 April 2017, the Lithuanian parliament passed a bill imposing a ban on import of electricity from Belarus' nuclear power plant in Astravets. It was reported in early February 2020 that the governments of the three Baltic nations will sign a declaration of intent to oppose electricity purchases from the Astravets NPP. Earlier the Latvian Prime Minister reiterated, that the Latvian government has decided not to buy electricity from Belarus. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are aiming to synchronize their electricity grid to continental Europe by 2025, hence switching away from the Russian-Belarusian electricity network. For background: Lithuania opposes the construction of the Astravets Nuclear power Plant (NPP) as the project does not comply with the international standards of environmental protection and nuclear safety, and is built on the site that was not duly justified over alternatives, according to Lithuania. On 7 June 2011, Lithuania lodged a complaint with the Implementing Committee of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment (the Espoo Convention) on the Astravets nuclear power plant case. The February 2019 draft decision of the Meeting of the Parties of the Espoo Convention acknowledged that Belarus had failed to comply with some Convention provisions and encouraged Belarus and Lithuania to continue bilateral expert consultations. See earlier disinformation cases concerning the Belarusian NPP, including claims that Lithuania fights against Belarusian NPP on the orders of Sweden and Finland, Dalia Grybauskaitė's opposition to the NPP is an attempt to hide Lithuania's own failures in nuclear power, that the "Chernobyl" series aimed to discredit the Belarusian power plant and Belarus-Russia relations and that Western-financed environmental NGOs in Belarus stage a big campaign against Rosatom and Russia.