Lithuania has stopped importing natural gas from Russia, the Energy Ministry said on Saturday evening.
The ministry said the country's gas network has been running without Russian gas imports since the beginning of the month. This is confirmed by data from the Lithuanian network operator which shows no gas was imported through the interconnection between Lithuania and Belarus on April 2.
"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," Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys said in the statement.
All Lithuania's gas needs are now to be met through liquefied natural gas, via the terminal in the port city of Klaipeda. Lithuania commissioned the floating facility in early 2015 in order to reduce its dependency on Russian gas imports. Three large deliveries of liquefied natural gas are now due to reach the floating facility there every month.
The ministry said gas would continue to flow through the country to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, regardless of the import stop. Lithuania borders Kaliningrad and Belarus, a Russian ally.
In March, Lithuania's parliament had called on the government to stop importing and consuming Russian energy as soon as possible against the background of the Ukraine war. Parliamentary data shows Lithuania buys more than €3 billion ($3.3 billion) worth of oil, gas and electricity from Russia every year.
