Baltic States – CIS, Belarus, Energy, Energy Market, Latvia, Lithuania, Nuclear power plant, Russia

"First of all, what has been done as part of the methodology project is that the origin provision was included. It means that the Latvian prime minister's words were really transferred to the methodology level," Vaiciunas told journalists.

"We in this case trust the Latvian decision and we are working on its technical implementation as restricting power trade is the best and optimum option on the Russian-Latvian border, and not on the Lithuanian-Latvian border. Here, unfortunately, completely different mechanism would come into play," the minister said.

Asked whether talks with Russia on origin guarantees should not be launched, the minister said that, first of all, the most important thing was to shape the Baltic states' position "so that we are strong as a fist".

Daivis Virbickas, CEP of Lithuania's transmission system operator Litgrid, says "one should not have any illusion" that Russia can be trusted 100% but, he added, it is possible to reach a level to prevent power traders from cheating.

"I don’t know anyone who fully trusts Russia, so we need to find a solution that would let us get maximum benefit from the origin guarantee system, probably even doing it in several stages. In other words, doing nothing is not an alternative as Latvia has already said that it would open the border and trade with Russia. So now we have reached that level when the methodology says that if we trade in Russian electricity, we don’t trade in the Belarusian one," Virbickas said.

"Yes, the origin guarantee system needs to be perfected and Litgrid is not the only capable of doing so as the state as a whole needs to look for those solutions," Virbickas added.

The HU-LCD say a system of certificates of origin established in the methodology will not be sufficient to block access to the single market for electricity that will be generated by the Astravyets nuclear power plant in Belarus.

Its representative Dainius Kreivys warned, however, that Russia could abuse that requirement and called to establish a more stringent certification system.

The methodology, agreed after lengthy negotiations, includes the requirement for electricity imported to the Baltic market "to have a proof of origin that it has originated from non-Belarusian producers".

Belarus plans to launch the Astravyets nuclear power plant on November 7. Lithuania says the power plant is being built in violation of safety and environmental requirements.