DISINFO: A child died during NATO military exercises in Lithuania
SUMMARY
The Stryker armored personnel carrier of the US Army carrying American servicemen crashed into a child on a bicycle in Lithuania. As a result of the incident, the child was killed and 13 servicemen were injured. The incident occurred in the Prienai district of Kaunas County in Lithuania on Thursday, June 7. According to the news portal Delfi, American soldiers who became participants in this incident, apparently, are servicemen of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which participates in NATO military exercises “Saber Strike 2018”. “Two of the four Stryker armored personnel carriers on their way to Kazl-Ruda left the road,” said Capt. Tomas Pakalniškis, the press attaché of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Defense Staff. In turn, the press attaché of the Alytus District Police Department, Egle Kachinskie, stated that the accident was reported at about 11.10. The child died on the spot. The wounds of the US military are not severe.
RESPONSE
On June 7th during military exercise “Saber Strike 2018” in Lithuania four U.S. vehicles “Stryker”, in a road between Lithuania’s cities Kaunas and Prienai, got into an accident. 13 U.S. soldiers suffered injuries. According to a primary information, an obstacle was the cause of an accident. It suddenly appeared on the road and one of four vehicles began to brake quickly. After that, vehicles crashed one into another. After the incident, in a blog Gelezinisvilkassite an article appeared claiming that a child had been killed in the exercise. The information was specially fabricated to look as it was announced from the real (and very popular) Lithuanian news portal. What is more, the headline and an image were photoshopped. During the meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Belgium (on June 8th) the Minister of National Defence of Lithuania Raimundas Karoblis stated: "This is a very typical example of the hostile information, and proves we are already being watched and are at informational war. We have no doubt that this was a deliberate and coordinated attempt aiming to raise general society’s condemnation to our allies, as well as discredit the exercises and our joint efforts on defence strengthening." For more information: https://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/crime/netoli-prienu-masine-sarvuociu-avarija-pranesama-apie-suzeistus-jav-karius.d?id=78224371