The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania completed a switch from Russia's electricity grid to the EU's system on Sunday, severing Soviet-era ties amid heightened security after the suspected sabotage of several subsea cables and pipelines.

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 three Baltic states successfully connected to the European power grid Sunday after severing Soviet-era links with Russia's network, a shift that EU chief Ursula von der Leyen hailed as "freedom from threats and blackmail".

The three Baltic states disconnected their electricity systems from Russia's power grid on Saturday, the region's operators said, part of a plan designed to integrate the countries more closely with the European Union and boost security.

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.

Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia joined the E.U.’s energy system on Sunday, one day after disconnecting from Russia’s power grid.

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

Over thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the three Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia will officially disconnect from their shared power grid with Russia and Belarus today.

"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.