DISINFO: Poland and the Baltic countries are the Western world's jackals who can produce a global catastrophe
SUMMARY
The stationing of the US military in Lithuania and preparations for NATO military exercises is partly a response to integration processes between Russia and Belarus. This is a way to pressure Belarusian elites, to scare them, and to put forward the following message: this is not your war, you better raise a white flag and surrender. Lithuanians, Latvians, and Poles are again playing the role of the Western world’s jackals and could thus again trigger a catastrophe for the whole of humankind.
RESPONSE
This claim is a conspiracy theory aimed at discrediting Poland and the Baltic states and the West as a whole. It is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about alleged Western aggression and anti-Russian activities, attempts to disrupt Belarus-Russia relations and to counteract the Union State between Belarus and Russia. NATO is a defensive alliance and does not pose a threat to Russia. Its purpose is to protect its member states. Every country that joins NATO undertakes to uphold its principles and policies, and this includes the commitment that "the Alliance does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia," as reaffirmed at the Brussels Summit. For more information about NATO-Russia relations and disinformation narratives about NATO, see here and here. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that the West is targeting the Union State between Belarus and Russia and that Poland is to blame for being attacked by Stalin in 1939.