Baltic States – CIS, Belarus, Energy, Legislation, Lithuania, Nuclear power plant

"The bottom line is that while Latvia has committed not to buy, neither Latvia nor Estonia have stated that they will purchase electricity from Belarus after the Astravyets launch," the minister told LRT Radio on Tuesday.

"The Latvian government has adopted decisions (...) on how to organize electricity trade with third countries after the Lithuanian-Belarusian border is closed to electricity trade," he said. 

The Baltic countries never differed in their positions on the safety of the plant built near the Lithuanian border, but their opinions have diverged about whether to boycott the facility's electricity, according to Vaiciunas. 

"There is a divergence of positions when it comes to buying or not buying, but I continue to call on both Latvia and Estonia to support our goal" which is to ensure that not only Lithuania, but the Baltic region as a whole does not purchase Belarus' nuclear power, he said.

Meanwhile, Jaroslav Neverovic, a former energy minister who now advises President Gitanas Nauseda, believes that a proposed Baltic agreement on Astravyets electricity will ensure that the plant's electricity does not enter the Baltic market.

Vaiciunas is making important steps in the right direction and opposition politicians who are criticizing the energy minister are hastily and incorrectly interpreting the proposed draft, he told the Ziniu Radijas radio station on Tuesday.

The critics of the proposed Baltic agreement, drafted by the Lithuanian Energy Ministry, include Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius, who told BNS last week that it was not in line with Lithuania's interests.

According to Neverovic, the lack of communication and coordination between several ministries was apparently down to time pressure.

The Lithuanian Cabinet last week discussed the proposed agreement with the other two Baltic states on electricity trade with Belarus and other third countries, but made no decisions.