Lithuania has stopped all Russian gas imports, becoming the first country in the European Union to do so. The country’s gas transmission system has been operating without Russian gas imports since the start of the month, the Lithuanian Energy Ministry stated on April 2. Minister of Energy Dainius Kreivys said that Lithuania is the first EU country among those supplied by Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom to gain independence from Russian gas supplies. He said the move “is the result of a multi-year coherent energy policy and timely infrastructure decisions.” The shift is a response to “Russia’s energy blackmail in Europe and the war in Ukraine,” the energy ministry said. Russia recently demanded to receive payment for gas shipped to Europe in rubles, the official currency of Russia. The demand is now “meaningless, as Lithuania no longer orders Russian gas and no longer plans to pay for it,” the ministry stated. Lithuanian President Gitanas …