DISINFO: The US and NATO want to turn the Baltic Sea region into the anti-Russian powder keg
SUMMARY
Under the pretext of "Russian aggression", the US and NATO want to turn the Baltic region into Europe's new 'powder keg', similar to the Balkan region in the early XXth century or present-time Northern Africa and the Middle East. Hybrid operations, coordinated from centres located in Poland and the Baltic states, are threatening constitutional orders and the security of Belarus and Russia. Against this background, the defensive measures taken by Belarus and Russia, including the Zapad-2021 military exercises, look adequate and justified.
RESPONSE
This article is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about NATO's aggressive plans towards Belarus and Russia, lost sovereignty / external control, and that the “Russian threat” is a false idea, created by the US and other Western actors to encircle Russia. According to the latter, the US and NATO have deliberately created a false image of an aggressive Russia. The article repeats a particular version of this narrative claiming that the “imaginary Russian threat” is only a pretext for stationing more NATO military contingents near Russian borders.
NATO's presence in the region is at the request of the host nations. Western concern about Russia’s security challenges to the alliance is genuine and not a pretext for stationing more NATO military resources near Russia’s borders. Ever since the 2014 Ukraine crisis, NATO and Western governments have been genuinely concerned about Russia’s increasingly aggressive foreign and military policies and about the challenges posed by Russia to Transatlantic security.
Read similar cases claiming that the US has created a false image of an aggressive Russia in order to prevent close Europe-Russia economic cooperation, that the US plans to turn the Baltic states into an empty field and arena for Drang nach Osten against Russia, that Lithuania is temporarily NATO-occupied territory ruled by non-Lithuanians, and that the Baltic states are under NATO occupation.