Baltic States’ Synchronisation with Continental European Network: Navigating the Hybrid Threat Landscape

This topic was fueled mainly by Russia’s willingness to use energy to advance its foreign policy ends vis-à-vis neighbouring countries. Given the Baltic States’ aspirations for energy independence from Russia, the Kremlin often employed energy geopolitics against them to maintain its advantageous position in the energy supply chain.1 It was relatively straightforward that Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian synchronisation with CEN would not go unopposed as Russia perceived it as an unfavourable geopolitical development. The Baltic withdrawal from the IPS/UPS contradicted the Russian interests of maintaining a degree of influence in the Baltic States and threatened the Kremlin’s entrenched position in Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian electricity markets.2 Observing the negative Russian perception towards the Baltic flagship energy project, the experts sought to foresee its upcoming response and identify potential security threats it would entail for the Baltic States and beyon