Lithuania and our Baltic neighbors of Poland, Latvia, and Estonia are shining examples of the transformative nature of freedom, democracy, and open markets.
As for me, personally, I like to say that I am a “kid of the Reagan revolution” since I came of age in Vilnius in the 1980s. I joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 and—inspired by American ideals—I have served as Lithuania’s ambassador to the United States since August 2010.
It has been an inspiring experience. But one thing has perplexed me: how America seems to exempt its energy policies from its ideals. Let me explain.
During fifty years of illegal and often brutal occupation, the Soviet Union designed an energy infrastructure for Lithuania that made it totally dependent upon Russia for oil and natural gas. After the re-establishment of independence in 1990, we moved from suffering under the status quo to accepting the need for change, and finally to making steady progress toward energy independence.
For the entire duration of Lithuania’s energy “evolution,” Russia abused its position as a monopolistic supplier, forcing us to pay far more than our European neighbors for both oil and natural gas. On numerous occasions, the Kremlin used energy as a political tool.
In 2006, for example, the Druzhba (“Friendship” in Russian) oil pipeline was shut down by Russia for so-called “technical repairs” after Lithuania refused to sell its oil refinery to a Russian-led consortium and after a rousing speech by Vice President Dick Cheney outlining US goals for democratic freedoms, free-market economies, and energy security in Eastern Europe.
Fortunately, Lithuanian leaders had long anticipated just such a disruption and in 1999 completed an oil import-export terminal on the Baltic Sea, which has been used since the shutdown. Today, eight years after Russia’s attempt to re-subordinate Lithuania, the Druzhba pipeline is still shut down despite dozens of offers over the years by both Lithuania and the European Union to make the necessary “technical repairs.”
In the aftermath of the ongoing Druzhba oil pipeline troubles, Lithuania’s political leadership moved deliberately to diversify our sources of natural gas as well, and thereby reduce our complete dependence on Russia.
Our quest led us to lease a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and regasification vessel—appropriately named Independence. Now docked at the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda on the Baltic shore, this vessel is already fully operational.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite summed up the importance of the LNG terminal by noting that “no one ever will blackmail us over gas prices or influence, through energy, our political or economic life.” The president described the Independence as “the most sophisticated vessel that will serve not only Lithuania, but also the entire Baltic region. Lithuania is becoming a stable energy nation.”
In a speech given in Istanbul, US Vice President Joe Biden later described the Lithuanian LNG terminal as a milestone development and stated that “the region that was once almost entirely dependent on Russia has seized the initiative and now is on track to achieve greater energy security and not incidentally greater freedom.” He ended by warning: “But we can’t rest on our laurels.