"We cannot wait until 2025. We have to disconnect from the Russian grid as soon as possible, because electricity may become another tool of slander and blackmail in the hands of the aggressor," he told reporters after meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Vilnius.

Nauseda had said earlier that Lithuania could be disconnected from the BRELL ring if Russia itself decided to use this measure.

On Thursday, the president also reiterated his call on Europe to stop buying Russian gas and oil.

"Europe must stop buying Russian gas and oil, because it is with the money paid to them by Europe that the Kremlin regime finances its ruthless destruction of Ukrainian cities and attacks on peaceful civilians," Nauseda said.

"The fifth package of sanctions must deal the maximum blow to the Kremlin regime. We can no longer skimp and wait because the criminals must feel the consequences of their actions here and now," he added.

Nauseda said that in his meeting with the Danish prime minister he stressed that "Russia's gas blackmail against the EU is an opportunity for Europe to become independent from energy imports from Russia".

In early March, the European Commission outlined a plan to reduce the EU's dependence on Russian gas by two-thirds by the end of 2022 and to make the bloc fully independent from Russian gas, oil and coal by 2030.

Kestutis Budrys, Nauseda's chief national security adviser, has said recently that the Baltic states have to accelerate their decoupling from the BRELL energy grid that also includes Belarus and Russia, because Moscow can use it as an instrument of influence.

The Baltic countries plan to synchronize their electricity grids with the Continental European system and disconnect from the post-Soviet BRELL ring by the end of 2025. However, the necessary tests, the installation of a 200 MW battery, other projects and the Harmony Link submarine cable still need to be completed.

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