DISINFO: The West treats the Baltic States as a foothold for anti-Russian war
SUMMARY
NATO battalions pose a permanent threat to the civilian populations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Drunk foreigners in camouflage often commit hooliganism and denigrate local residents. NATO military drills disrupt transport communications and quiet life. NATO membership of the Baltic states is useless at best. It resulted in exploitation by foreign countries and dissolution of national armies. In particular, two Lithuanian military brigades are subordinated to German and Danish military units.
Russia does not pose a threat to the Baltic states. On the contrary, the Baltic states periodically come up with territorial claims to Russia. They can exploit the topic of the “Russian threat” for decades and get money from their senior partners for that. However, in the case of hypothetical armed conflict in the Baltic sea region, NATO allies will not be able to guarantee the existence of the Baltic states.
The expansionist and ill-conceived plans of the Pentagon and NATO threaten the Baltic states more than a mythical “Russian intervention.” The West cynically controls the Baltic states in their capacity of the foothold of war against Russia.
RESPONSE
This article transmits recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about NATO's aggressive plans towards Russia and the vassal Baltic states. It portrays NATO as a threatening and conflict-creating alliance which harms the Baltic states. This message can be found in earlier disinformation cases alleging that the U.S. will easily betray the Baltic states and hand them over to Russia, and that the US wants Russia to buy the Baltic states.
The Baltic states do not have territorial claims to Russia as alleged, and 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.
NATO's increased presence in the Baltic Sea region has been a request of the Baltic states. Following Russia's aggressive actions against Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia requested a greater NATO presence in the region. A 2016 Gallup poll found that most people in Allied countries in the Baltic region associate NATO with the protection of their country. When it comes to NATO's decisions, they are made by consensus, after discussion and consultation among member countries. Individual NATO member states have overseas bases on the basis of bilateral agreements and the principle of consent of the host-nation, in contrast with Russian bases on the territory of Moldova (Transnistria), Ukraine (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) and Georgia (the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia).
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that the US is occupying the EU and the Baltic countries nearly lost their statehood, 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, that NATO buried Latvia’s and Lithuania’s independence, and that the Baltic States and Ukraine belong to the ’Russian world’.