Russia’s first floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at the Kaliningrad province bordered by Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic coast has been inaugurated. 

The facility has been put into operation on Tuesday to enhance the energy security of the region providing it with the alternative gas supply option.

The Marshal Vasilevskiy FSRU has been moored at the quay located five kilometers off the coast, protected by a 728-meter long breakwater.

The FSRU, capable of storing 174,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, is also capable of providing up to 2.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the Kaliningrad region on an annual basis.

According to a statement by the office of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, who inaugurated the facility, natural gas deliveries through the Minsk-Vilnius-Kaunas-Kaliningrad gas pipeline were completely halted and the region was being supplied by the FSRU.