DISINFO: The West wants to influence elections in Russia and supports anti-State powers
SUMMARY
The “Vilnius Russia Forum” shows the Western attempt to influence Russia. This year's meeting went as usual: useless. It just shows that it is not Russia interfering in elections in the Western countries but Western countries, which want to influence elections in Russia. They want to impose their vision of democracy and are supporting anti-State powers.
RESPONSE
A recurring narrative about the West as a consolidated anti-Russian geopolitical power.
The “Vilnius Russia Forum” is a traditional meeting organised by the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Lithuania and think-tank Eastern Europe Studies Centre. It has been organised annually since 2013. This year, it united more than 80 experts, politicians, journalists from Russia, Lithuania, and other countries. Amongst the guests of the Forum was Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
The minister of foreign affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis said in the opening speech of the Forum that the common goal of the participants is Russia as a “modern, democratic, predictable state which is realising own interests according to respect to the neighbours, they sovereignty, human rights and democratic values”.
See other examples of disinformation accusing the West of waging a hybrid war against Russia using NGOs and activists, or claiming that for the West, Russian elections will always be “bad”, or that the West aims to destabilise Russia using its historic territories.