Lietuva in brief

Wires crossed on high seas

As work continues on the Nord Balt cable out in the Baltic sea — which will link Lithuania’s electricity with Sweden’s — the Russian Navy is not standing by passively.
On Thursday April 30, citing the need to keep to an on-going military exercise, Russia’s military ships ordered a ship which was keeping watch on the NordBalt cable laying works in the Baltic Sea to leave the zone.
The ship was meant to be ensuring there was no damage caused to the cable by other ships while work was still in progress, as the cable is not deep in the seabed and remains uncovered with sand, and other nearby vessels could easily have damaged the cable if they come too close with fishing equipment or anchors.
“On Thursday, 30 April, this ship was forced to leave the cable laying site after a relevant order from Russia’s military ships. So far, this has been the third such case this year since the beginning of the cable laying works,” LitGrid, developer of the NordBalt project, said.
Lithuania’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has been informed about the incident, and the Russian ambassador to Lithuania has been summoned to explain the repeated disturbances.
The first electricity bridge with Sweden will start to operate in December. The capacity of the 453 km interconnection will be 700 MW, which is equal to the amount of electricity consumed in Lithuania on a hot summer’s day.