The spirit of Lithuania, with a population of less than three million, on the side of Belarus is strongly anti-Russian. visited the Lithuanian capital at the turn of March-April.
WOOL Lithuania’s strong support for Ukraine is visible in the city center.
Flags of Ukraine and Lithuania are hung on the railings of the balconies of the apartment buildings. Vilnius + heart + Ukraine is displayed on the display of each local bus.
Lithuania, with a population of just under three million, has experienced two different occupiers in recent history, the Germans and the Russians.
Located in the center of the capital, Vilnius, the KGB Museum tells the authenticity of the last occupier’s harsh grip on the people he subjugated: cramped cells, torture chambers and a execution room with bullets in the back wall reminiscent of the place’s creepy history.
Lithuania became independent in 1993.
Founder and star presenter of the popular or perhaps even the most popular Russian-language radio station in Lithuania, R-Radio Ernest Alesin still remembers well when the Russian tanks withdrew from Lithuania. He was a teenager at the time.
– I remember it well, and we will never want that time back, Alesin says in the top-floor studio of a legendary radio house on the outskirts of Vilnius’ city center. Here he began his career decades ago, albeit on a Polish-language radio station at the time.
Lithuania’s independence is protected by NATO membership. However, there are relatively few NATO troops in the country, and there is no similar type of defense force, as Finland has, for example.
Yet faith in the Fifth Article of NATO countries is conveyed in Vilnius as strong.
Could Russia attack Lithuania as well?
The recent history of the country is reminiscent of occupying power. If Russia wanted a land connection to the Kaliningrad region under its control, Lithuania could be in the way of it.
A journalist who fled Belarus believes that the Russian military expeditions may continue and that Lithuania is one possible target. He appears in the story anonymously for security reasons, but has verified his identity.
– The Suvalski corridor is now being talked about on Russian propaganda channels. Despite of [venäläisten] lightning war failed completely, Russia’s current leadership is a major threat to both Ukraine and all neighboring countries. And Finland is no exception.
– Everything is possible after the attack launched by Russia. Finland is not in a better position than we are. One morning you find that everything is changing. Russia is a big country, and if they get crazy ideas, they will fight for them, says Alesin.
The importance of independence has grown
Alesin is himself a Lithuanian Jew by birth. He talks a lot and his speeches strongly embrace patriotism.
– I’m fighting for this country. This is my country, not someone else’s country. I was born here, buried my parents here. I love this country and these streets.
He himself uses the word radicalism to describe himself, meaning that his world of thought changed with Russia’s increased aggression.
– I became radicalized in 2014, when Russia conquered Crimea.
In his opinion, the Western powers did not condemn the occupation of Crimea sufficiently, nor did they punish Russia sufficiently for it. However, the time for negotiations and diplomacy is now behind us.
– Russia should stop now. Better do it now. History shows what they have done.
As a skilled language user, a radio presenter instantly spins in a couple of sentences what independence is.
– My three daughters were born in independent Lithuania. They speak Russian, English. I want them to be able to travel, even visit Sweden, listen to music, talk, maybe have some alcohol with citizens of other countries.
The entertainment of journalism plays into the bag of dictatorships
The war of aggression launched by Russia against Ukraine is the latest example of the importance of independent communication and access to the right information. Russia has sought to silence all journalistic actors other than those serving its own narrative.
But this is not the only problem in war news either. One of the big problems is that public interest in journalism has declined. Journalism is heavily entertained because it produces what the audience wants to read.
This has also happened in Lithuania, says the president of the Union of Journalists, Danius Radzevicius.
– The number of newspapers has decreased, the growth of entertainment has continued, the number of journalism has decreased. Unfortunately, this world of entertainment is helping dictatorships overcome democracy, he says.
The trend is also confirmed by the editor-in-chief of Lietuvos Rytas, Lithuania’s largest newspaper Tautvydas Mikalajūnas. He believes the media paper he represents will stop publishing within five years.
Radzevicius speaks of propaganda, which is of two kinds: good and evil. For example, propaganda defending human rights is good, while hate speech is bad. According to him, the hate speech from Russia has increased all the time.
Talking about it is important because the war is being waged on several fronts, and one of them is the minds and opinions of the people, the Belarusian journalist sums up.
– War takes place not only on the front but also in people’s minds and people’s minds. The extent to which people are able to change their attitude to war also depends on the course of the actual hostilities.