Belarusian Energy Ministry comments on Lithuania's statement on interstate power lines

MINSK, 3 June (BelTA) – The Belarusian Energy Ministry has made a few comments in response to Lithuania's statement about the operation of interstate power lines, the press service of the Belarusian Energy Ministry told BelTA.

Belarus and Lithuania are connected by 13 power lines, including four 330kV backbone power lines. In line with the BRELL agreement [Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania] the sides manage their operation together via control centers on each side. “It is an international practice. It is technically impossible to take everything into one set of hands as Lithuania claims. The term ‘unilateral control of interstate power lines' does not exist, this is why in this case one can view the Lithuanian statement as a figure of speech,” the Energy Ministry said.

“If Lithuania is intent on disconnecting the interstate power lines, it has to agree these actions with parties to the BRELL agreement, including Belarus, just like Belarus had to agree its actions during temporary disconnections of transboundary power lines in the course of testing the reliability of the domestic power grid,” the source stressed.

“On the whole, it is difficult to evaluate the steps Lithuania has mentioned for now because the Belarusian side has not received any documents and notifications about the actions the Lithuanian side intends to take,” the Energy Ministry concluded.