A backup route through which Russia can supply natural gas to its exclave region may be shut down, Eesti Ekspress reports.

Estonia’s state-owned transmission system operator Elering is currently maintaining a 22-kilometer section of the trunk pipeline running through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to the Kaliningrad Region. After learning of this, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal pledged to seek an end to the pipeline’s operation. He also said he would instruct the head of Estonia’s Ministry of Energy to coordinate a halt to transit with Latvia, where the shut-off valve is located.

Under the existing agreement, Russia may use this pipeline as a backup route for supplying the Kaliningrad Region. At present, Russia’s westernmost region receives gas via the main Minsk–Vilnius–Kaunas–Kaliningrad route and by sea through a floating regasification terminal. If Riga does not support Tallinn’s proposal, the Estonian prime minister has said that transit could be banned under national sanctions.

The pipeline running through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is currently inactive, as the Estonian authorities stopped using Russian gas in 2022. At the end of 2025, Gazprom signed another contract with the Lithuanian government for gas transit to the Kaliningrad Region through the end of 2030.