DISINFO: Baltic countries get their position on key international issues from the US State Department via fax
DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
  • Outlet: Rubaltic.ru (archived)*
  • Date of publication: January 11, 2021
  • Outlet language(s): Russian
  • Reported in: Issue 226
  • Countries / regions discussed: US, Baltic states
Tags:
US racial justice protests Sovereignty

DISINFO: Baltic countries get their position on key international issues from the US State Department via fax

SUMMARY

For the Baltic countries, whose position on key international issues was formed by faxes from the State Department, being left without the United States is like being left without a head.

If earlier the Baltic States could flutter their tongues about Russia and feel protected, then in the future, a wonderful new world will have to answer for their words and think about the consequences.

Because nobody will come to the rescue. And there will be no one to pester. It is possible, of course, by inertia to call Washington, but there is a possibility that a viking with horns will answer the call in the high office instead of the curator, who will start shouting into the phone that the lives of black people matter.

RESPONSE

This example reflects the classic disinformation narrative about lost sovereignty used by the pro-Kremlin media, claiming that country X has lost it's sovereignty either directly to the US or to the EU (which has lost it's sovereignty to the US).

The EU Member States are sovereign countries and make sovereign decisions about their own security and policies. The US is an important ally to the EU but the latter's policy is not determined by the US, as explained by the EU High Representative.

As for "coming to the rescue", no distinction has been made between the US and NATO, however the underlying point is to attack NATO's collective defense principle. Leaving aside pro-Kremlin narratives about NATO encircling or threatening Russia, we should not forget Moscow's claims that Russia no longer represents a threat and it has no plans to attack any country. In reality these claims can be questioned after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and destabilisation of Eastern Ukraine in early 2014. Moreover, European governments and security services have been increasingly concerned about Russian hostile influence activities aimed at weakening the EU and NATO, fermenting divisions in societies and discrediting and destabilising liberal democracies.

The article is also consistent with another broad pro-Kremlin narrative portraying the West as a decadent and immoral society.

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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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