After the disconnection plans were announced, propaganda campaigns cropped up on social media and in printed leaflets in city streets that issued fake-news warnings about blackouts, severe energy shortages and sky-high energy bills for consumers.

The President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, emphasized that provocations cannot be ruled out regarding the planned disconnection of the Baltic countries from the Russian-Belarusian power grid. Consequently,

Nearly 3 1/2 decades after leaving the Soviet Union, the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this weekend will flip a switch to end electricity-grid connections to neighboring Russia and Belarus.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will flip the switch on Feb. 9, disconnecting themselves from a regional electricity grid known as BRELL, and will switch to a European Union regional network instead. The move has been years in the making — but now that the time has come, security officials are bracing for retaliation from Moscow.

Lithuania has warned of potential risks linked to the change, including possible cyber attacks, which will happen Saturday morning.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will disconnect from the Russian power grid on Saturday, severing Soviet-era energy ties with their neighbor to the east. A countdown clock in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius,