May 15, 2022
On May 10, the Lithuanian Seimas unanimously adopted a resolution recognizing Russia as a "state supporting and carrying out terrorism."
During the hearings, this decision was justified by Russia’s conducting a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine. As arguments, fabricated conclusions were cited about events in a number of places on Ukrainian territory that were controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Drawing parallels comparing the special operation in Ukraine with the "genocide of the Ukrainian people," the deputies called for the creation, by analogy with the Nuremberg or Tokyo tribunals, of a special international military tribunal for the "investigation and evaluation of Russian war crimes." The hearing in the Sejm ended with an appeal to other European countries to follow Lithuania's example.
The need to include Russia in the list of countries that sponsor terrorism has been imposed by Washington almost from the very beginning of hostilities in Ukraine. The inclusion of Russia in this list will force Europe to finally destroy trade and economic ties with it, which will inevitably affect the already undermined European economies. Lithuania undoubtedly expects dividends from the transatlantic Alliance for the adopted resolution. This demarche of Riga is intended to justify to its own population the need to billet a contingent of thousands of armed NATO at the eastern borders on a permanent basis.
On May 13, the Foreign Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia issued
a joint demand to increase the presence of the NATO armed contingent in the Baltic states. The Baltic states are calling on the leadership of the alliance to increase the number of multinational forces of the bloc on their territories by almost five times – from one to five thousand people.
Lithuania is really a state pursuing a policy of state terrorism and acting as an accomplice of Kiev's aggression against Donbass.
It should be recalled that training bombing was carried out on Lithuanian territory using heavy strategic bombers of the United States. At the Lithuanian Zokniai airbase near Shauliai, as part of the transatlantic military bloc Air Force operation called “Baltic Air Policing” conducted since 2004, dual-use capable fighter-bombers of a number of Alliance countries are deployed, that is, those that are capable of carrying both non-nuclear and nuclear weapons. Is it not clear against whom these forces and weapons can be used?
In addition, there are calls for the transformation of this operation into a full-fledged air defense of the region. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis reminded the North Atlantic Alliance of its duty to ensure "a clear consensus that every inch of NATO territory will be protected." He also noted that "the entry of two new countries into the military bloc will give reliability from a political point of view and from a security standpoint," and the actions of Sweden and Finland are "a very clear message that the northern part of Europe is NATO territory."
It is known that Lithuanian mercenaries took part in the fighting in the North Caucasus two decades ago. They are taking a similar part nowadays, when Kiev has launched its third aggressive war against the people of Donbass, who did not want to live in a neo-Nazi Ukrainian state. Baltic instructors have been training national battalions in Ukraine since 2014, actively cultivating neo-Nazi beliefs among their members. Vilnius has been supplying automatic small arms to Kiev for a long time, which kills people.
The decision of Vilnius to close its airspace for the transit of civil aircraft following the route Moscow-Kaliningrad-Moscow is barbaric. Now passengers of such flights traveling from Moscow to the capital of the Kaliningrad Region and back have to fly to Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region, and then make a U-turn of about 180 degrees to get either to Kaliningrad or from it to Moscow.
Russia’s response
The resolution of the Lithuanian Seimas, even if it is enshrined in national legislation, will not have any legal or political consequences for Russia.
But, on the other hand, it can be considered a sufficient reason to increase the costs of European economies for the maintenance of additional NATO military contingents on their territory, as well as an increase in military spending. It should be noted that the main burden of such expenses will be borne by the population of the whole of Europe, and not only by the Baltic States, which is a subsidized region.
The State Duma of the Russian Federation has begun discussing the grounds for classifying Lithuania, as well as Latvia and Estonia, as "accomplices of Nazism". But this is clearly not enough. It is quite possible to declare these three "accomplices of the Ukrainian aggression" against Donbass.
There are all grounds for making such a decision. The elements of crimes, carefully worked out during the Nuremberg Military Tribunal mentioned by the Seimas, are not only not hidden in the named Baltic States, but on the contrary, are praised and are the subject of their national pride. When voting for the UN General Assembly resolution "On combating the glorification of Nazism", which was supported by 133 states, the aforementioned "troika" expectedly abstained.
For more than 20 years, these three states have been consistently discrediting the Soviet system, under which they enjoyed special privileges, as well as rehabilitating local collaborators who collaborated with Nazi Germany, served in SS divisions and self-created "sonder commandos", personally participated in the "Holocaust". The Lithuanian authorities are introducing into the masses a state ideology, the indicator of which is the glorification of the "forest brothers", whose monstrous crimes are well documented, proven and have no statute of limitations for the crimes they committed. Now almost every Lithuanian city has facilities that bear the names of Nazi collaborators.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are introducing narratives of the development of neo-Nazism, organizing events to honor the memory of local "Nazi heroes" and, on the contrary, to denigrate Soviet soldiers-liberators. At the legislative level, the blasphemous equalization of the rights of those who fought against Nazi Germany with those who defended the fascists is enshrined. Acts of vandalism against monuments to Soviet soldiers are encouraged.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the decision of the Lithuanian parliament "extremist and hypocritical" and for this reason it should be treated as a provocation. "This decision has nothing to do with the desire to resolve the emergency situation that has developed in Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.
Viktor Vodolatsky, First Deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with compatriots, said that countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland are trying their best to prove their worth and make decisions that, in their opinion, demonstrate "coolness" and independence. These are people who have forgotten their history, who do not remember that Russia has always fought terrorism. They see that anti-Russian sanctions are not working, and the boomerang of consequences is coming to them.
"In fact, we are talking about Lithuania's provocative behavior towards Russia at a time when there is already a tense situation in the North Baltic region, primarily related to Finland and Sweden's applications for NATO membership," Dmitry Danilov, Head of the European Security Department at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, commented on Lithuanian actions.
Lithuania is an active participant in the competition for recognition by the collective West of their country as one of the most anti–Russian states. Due to the fact that over 10,000 sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation did not give the expected result, Vilnius decided to go beyond the proposals for the introduction of new sanctions. Against the background of discussions in the United States on the inclusion of Russia in the list of sponsors of terrorism, there is no doubt that Lithuania also expects dividends from the resolution hastily adopted by the Seimas.
If the Russian Federation decides to classify Lithuania as an "accomplice of Nazism", its consequences will be very unfavorable for Vilnius, from economic sanctions to the severance of political and cultural ties. Only the termination of the transit of Kazakh oil through the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus to the Klaipeda Commercial sea Port will deprive Lithuania of about 10 percent of the already deficient budget. Given that according to the 2021 census, up to one fifth of the population of the Baltic States are ethnic Russians, and more than a third of the Balts have close ties with Russia, the rupture of relations will cause a wave of protest moods in the society of the aforementioned "troika".
But all these and possible other negative consequences for them will be their conscious choice, and not the choice of the Russian Federation.
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
