Lithuania’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law that allows the use of Lithuania’s natural gas transmission system only to countries that do not pose a threat to national security.
Lithuania’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law banning the import of Russian gas, another step in its race to reduce its energy dependence on its big neighbor, amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine . In the spring, this Baltic state, a member of the EU and NATO, stopped buying Russian gas transported by pipeline or via an LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal. The new law allows the use of the Lithuanian natural gas transmission system and LNG terminal only by countries that do not pose a threat to national security.
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The law nevertheless authorizes the use of its infrastructures to Russian suppliers who transfer gas to Kaliningrad. After regaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, Lithuania was heavily dependent on Russian gas, until it leased an LNG terminal in 2014. In May, Lithuania inaugurated a new gas pipeline that connects the three Baltic States to the European gas network, via neighboring Poland.
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