DISINFO: The US curators cannot calm hysterical Lithuania, afraid of false Russian threat
SUMMARY
Lithuanian elites wage a diplomatic war against Russia. American curators try to calm hysterical Lithuanians, explaining that no one plans to attack them. Notwithstanding that NATO promised Mikhail Gorbachev not to expand to the East, Lithuania become a member of the Alliance in 2004. This fact has not calmed Lithuanian authorities. All 18 years after joining NATO, Lithuanian patriots shout: “Russians assault us”.
RESPONSE
This message combines various pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives presenting Lithuania as a puppet of the US and NATO and repeating a false statement that NATO promised not to expand to the East. The claim also presents Lithuanian concerns about the aggressive behaviour of Russia toward its neighbour countries presented as groundless, framing these as Russophobia.
Lithuanian worries about a possible “Russian threat” is linked to the aggressive behaviour of the Kremlin toward some of its neighbouring countries. In this context first of all should be mentioned the illegal annexation of Crimea and war in Ukraine supported by Russia.
The National Security Strategy 2017 of Lithuania notes:
“Capacity of the Russian Federation to use military and economic, energy, information and other non-military measures in combination against the neighbouring countries [...] is a challenge to the security of the Republic of Lithuania and the whole Euro-Atlantic community.”
The statement that NATO promised not to expand to the East is also false. This claim has been debunked numerous times. NATO did not promise not to expand into Eastern and Central Europe back in 1990, which was confirmed by the former president of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. Back in 2014, Gorbachev said that “The topic of ‘NATO expansion was not discussed at all, and it wasn’t brought up in those years. I say this with full responsibility”.
See other similar examples of Kremlin disinformation about Lithuania: Lithuania is supporting Russophobia and anti-Semitism; Lithuania and other Eastern European states are afraid Russian threat will disappear; Lithuania is cannon fodder for the US.