"That is why Lithuania, together with Poland and the other Baltic countries, is confidently saying: no to Russian gas, no to Russian oil, no to funding the aggressor. Now the whole region is ready to communicate the same message," Nauseda said at the ceremony.

"The GIPL pipeline creates additional links between Lithuania and Poland. By diversifying energy supply routes and sources, it further strengthens our energy union and mutual support," he said.

"This is a special day for Lithuania and Poland, as well as for our other Baltic neighbors – Latvia, Estonia and Finland. Today we are consolidating our energy independence and strengthening our resistance to political pressure and energy blackmail from the East."

As part of the ceremony at the Jauniunai Gas Compressor Station, not far from Vilnius, Nauseda, together with his Polish and Latvia counterparts, Andrzej Duda and Egils Levits, and European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, pressed a symbolic button to launch the pipeline.

Nauseda said that a shipment of US liquefied natural gas supplied through the Klaipeda terminal is expected to reach Poland by the pipeline on Friday, describing it as "the best and strongest response to Russian steps such as cutting gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria".

The Lithuanian president said that he hopes the Polish-Lithuanian gas pipeline will soon be used to supply gas to Ukraine, which would "reaffirm the benefits that the GIPL link can bring to the region and thus its strategic importance".

He underlined the need to further bolster the energy security and resilience of neighboring countries, the region and the EU as a whole.

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