Russia, Belarus step up anti-Lithuanian propaganda in July – army

VILNIUS – Russia and Belarus stepped up their anti-Lithuanian propaganda in July, analysts of the Lithuanian army say, adding that it mainly came in the form of defense-related propaganda statements.

Some 312 information incidents were recorded in July, up by a third from June, the army reported on Wednesday. More than 200 cases were defense-related.

The purpose of these actions by Russia and Belarus is to misinform and manipulate their audiences. Occasionally, such information entered the Lithuanian or foreign information space, the army analysts said.

The aggressive rhetoric from Russian and Belarusian officials and propagandists was aimed at discrediting the NATO and the NATO summit in Washington, Lithuania's defense and foreign policy, and to undermine Lithuania's trust in the Alliance.

Russia and Belarus continue to portray NATO as an aggressive military bloc, hostile to peace and hostile to Russia, and the intensity of the information activities during the Washington meeting was as high as during last year's NATO summit in Vilnius.

Propagandists stress that their stance towards NATO or their neighbors is peaceful, but the hostility and aggression is allegedly directed at the propagandists themselves, the army said.

Therefore, the Baltic Connection 24 (BALTCON24) exercise in Lithuania, during which Patriot air defense systems were deployed, was presented in Russia and Belarus as preparation for aggression.

Propagandists also focused on Lithuania as its building its military capabilities, highlighting defense funding and plans to establish counter-mobility parks.

In July, Belarusian propagandists also tried to portray Lithuania as a non-democratic, aggressive state.

According to the army, this was done by exploiting the issue of illegal migrants, following the release of a documentary on the allegedly brutal treatment of migrants by Lithuania, Poland and Latvia.

There was also an attempt to heat up the information space with an interview with Olga Tishkevich, a former Belarusian opposition activist who has returned to Minsk. She spoke about alleged plans by her former associates in Lithuania to carry out attacks on facilities in Belarus.