On Saturday, April 2, 2022, the Lithuanian Ministry of Energy announced that Lithuania will be the first EU member state to stop importing Russian gas.

The move to become fully independent from Russian gas was made in response to Russia’s energy blackmailing  Europe and the war in Ukraine.

“We are the first EU country among Gazprom’s supply countries to gain independence from Russian gas supplies, and this is the result of a multi-year coherent energy policy and timely infrastructure decisions,” said Lithuania’s Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys.

This is confirmed by the data of the Lithuanian gas transmission system operator Amber Grid, which showed that on Saturday (2 April) the import of Russian gas for Lithuania’s needs through the Lithuanian-Belarusian interconnection was equal to 0 MWh.

The alternative to Russian gas is importing gas from multiple countries through Klaipėda’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, symbolically called “Independence”.

Lithuania becomes first EU country to stop Russian gas imports