DISINFO: Authorities of the Baltic States failed to prevent May 9 celebration
SUMMARY
The attempts of authorities of the Baltic states to mitigate the meanings of Victory day (May 9) and prevent the possibility to celebrate it did not stop Russian compatriots. They successfully organized a commemoration of May 9 in the Baltic states.
In Riga police encircled monument for Soviet soldiers but people anyway brought flowers there and participated in a procession with portraits of veterans.
Despite restrictions, representatives of the Russian diaspora and Lithuanians brought flowers to the graves of Soviet soldiers in Vilnius and other cities of Lithuania.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative about historical revisionism in the Baltic states.
The statement that authorities of the Baltic states wanted to prevent the celebration of May 9 is groundless. All restrictions for mass events in the Baltic states are linked to the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Police in Riga encircled monument for Soviet soldiers to prevent the worsening of the epidemiological situation. People were able to give flowers to workers of “Rīgas meži” and they laid them at the monument. Lithuania also did not implement any new or special restrictions which could be linked to May 9.
The Baltic states commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany on May 8, like many other European countries. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia also underline that end of WWII did not bring freedom for them. On 23 August 1939, Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression (Molotov-Ribbentrop) pact, whose secret protocols divided the territories belonging to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Romania into Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence. Contrary to the claims of the pro-Kremlin media, the re-capturing of the Baltic States did not bring freedom, but Soviet repressions and occupation, which lasted for 50 years. The estimated war and occupation deaths are at 90,000 in Estonia, 180,000 in Latvia, and 250,000 in Lithuania. Furthermore, It has been estimated that between 1946 and 1953 deportations and guerrilla deaths reached 95,000 in Estonia, 125,000 in Latvia, and 310,000 in Lithuania.
See similar narratives of pro-Kremlin disinformation accusing Estonia and the EU of the spread of lies about the USSR in WWII, or spreading statements that the West is rewriting history, or that the EU’s historical revisionism contributes to Neo-Nazi trends in Ukraine and the Baltic states.