DISINFO: Poland and the Baltic states are NATO’s barking chain dogs

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

  • Outlet: pravda-pl.com ( archive, original )
  • Date of publication: June 27, 2024
  • Article language(s): Polish
  • Countries / regions discussed: Poland, Russia, Baltic states, US

DISINFO: Poland and the Baltic states are NATO’s barking chain dogs

SUMMARY

Poland and the Baltic states have played the role of NATO’s chain dogs, who can only bark and hide behind their owner’s fence. In this case, there is literally a wall being built on the border with Belarus. First, some Estonian general publicly says how he will defeat the Russian Army at Narva, but when the Russian Iskanders move a millimetre closer to Tallinn, he will run to the Americans for help.

The ruling elites in these countries have anti-state positions, what is explained by the fact that they returned to the region from the USA after the collapse of the USSR. The peoples of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia do not want to fight and go to confrontation with Russia, but their top-level officials are dragging their countries into the conflict. If the conflict starts, they will immediately flee back overseas.

RESPONSE

Poland and the Baltic states are repeatedly presented by pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets as an aggressive anti-Russian NATO ‘outpost’, which allegedly poses a security threat to Russia. This is in line with how pro-Kremlin outlets portray NATO and Western countries as aggressive towards Russia. See our article All roads lead to Poland.

The Polish authorities perceive Russia as a security threat because of their aggressive actions, in particular in Ukraine and all over Eastern Europe.

The 2020 National Security Strategy of Poland states that the most serious security threat for the country is the neo-imperial policy of the authorities of the Russian Federation, pursued by means of military force (aggression against Georgia, illegal annexation of Crimea and military actions in Eastern Ukraine).

The Baltic states have clear security concerns regarding Moscow due to Russian politicians voicing explicit threats of invasion, similar to the events in 1940 when the former Soviet Union occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Lithuania’s National Threat Assessment 2023 highlights Russia’s war against Ukraine, sliding towards totalitarianism and strengthening of its armed forces. The assessment of Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service of 2023 notes that Russia’s strategic objective has not changed, which is to subjugate Ukraine and thereby decisively reshape European security architecture. The annual report by the Latvian State Security Service 2022 emphasised that Russia’s war in Ukraine has changed the global security architecture confirming the need to continuously improve the national security system.

See other examples of similar messages claiming that constant intimidation with Russia is used to make Poland economically dependent on the USAthe Polish authorities created an insane hysteria of intimidation with Russia, used for the needs of domestic politics, and The Polish authorities want to use the Army to fight domestic riots, not Russia.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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