Why were Baltic power lines put under police guard in January 2025?

What was behind the police deployment to protect Lithuania's power link with Poland? As of 9 January 2025, the question was fresh: a day earlier, on 8 January, Lithuanian prime minister Gintautas Paluckas had sent police to secure the country's electricity connection with Poland.

The move followed reported attempts to disrupt the planned decoupling of the Baltic states' power systems from the grid they shared with Belarus and Russia. The deployment was a response to those reported attempts, and it put the link with Poland under direct protection.

Sanctions on a Hungarian minister

A separate item from the preceding days concerned Hungary and the United States. On 7 January, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Hungarian cabinet minister Antal Rogán for alleged corruption. The Treasury accused him of using his position to secure financial benefits for himself and for political allies.

Both developments were reported in the 48 hours before 9 January 2025. They involved different countries and different issues: one concerned the security of energy infrastructure in the Baltic region, the other a corruption accusation against a member of a government in the region.