The flow of electricity between the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Russia was officially severed Saturday morning after officials switched off the Soviet-era grid’s transmission lines and prepared to join the rest of Europe on Sunday.
This came more than three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, ending the Baltics' final ties to oil- and gas-rich Russia. For the three countries, as well as the rest of Europe, the move was steeped in geopolitical and symbolic significance.
