Disinfo: Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Armenia to see how to isolate Russia in the post-Soviet area

Summary

The visit of the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, to Armenia is a recon mission for the EU. There is a fierce struggle between Russia and the West. NATO and the EU are implementing an active policy in the post-Soviet area. The point is to isolate Russia, to grow tensions on Russia's borders, redirect Russia's allies in the post-Soviet area to the West. The point of the visit of the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs to Armenia is to look at how this could be achieved.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about encircled Russia.

The aim of the visit to Armenia by Lithuania's Foreign Affairs Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, was to discuss the possibility of expanding Lithuania’s cooperation with Armenia, as well as prospects for strengthening Armenia’s relations with the European Union. During the visit, the security situation in the region was also discussed. The visit was not directed against Russia or any other country.

The EU and NATO are also not trying to encircle or destroy Russia. The West is trying to keep channels of communications and cooperation open with Russia. For instance, NATO as the Western organisation created cooperation bodies – the Permanent Joint Council and the NATO-Russia Council – to embody its relationship with Russia. It also invited Russia to cooperate on missile defence. The Warsaw Summit Communique 2016 describes NATO's official policy towards Russia: "The Alliance does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia. But we cannot, and will not, compromise on the principles on which our Alliance and security in Europe and North America rest."

The EU and its member states have maintained a clear policy of reaching out to Russian society and youth, mainly through the Erasmus+ student exchange programme and other people to people contacts, in line with five guiding principles of relations with Russia. On behalf of the European Union, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP), Josep Borrell travelled to Moscow in February 2021 with the intention of pursuing a dialogue on core issues in the relations between the European Union and Russia. The Kremlin answered the European Union’s invitation to dialogue with a shameless attempt to deflect attention from its violations of Russia’s international obligations and own laws. However, the EU will continue to engage with Russia when it is in the interest of the EU.

See similar disinformation claims that Russia faces an aggressive police aimed at weakening and controlling it; that globalists aim to destroy Russia because Russia supports transition to a multipolar World order; or that the escalation in Donbas is part of a US destabilisation pattern in post-Soviet states.

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  • Reported in: Issue 242
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 29/04/2021
  • Article language(s) Lithuanian, Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Lithuania, Armenia, Russia, EU
  • Keywords: Encircling Russia, Destabilising Russia, West, Anti-Russian
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Disinfo: Accusing Russia of the Vrbetice explosion attempts to abort its rapprochement with Europe

Every time that there is a rapprochement between Russia and any EU country affecting energy supplies, there are setups like the alleged Russian involvement in the Vrbetice explosion. The West does precisely what they accuse Russia of doing, hybrid warfare. When the Nord Stream 2 was close to being approved we saw the case of the alleged poisoning of Alexei Navalny, and now, when Russia is helping Czechia in the nuclear field, we see a supposed intervention of Russian agents to blow up a munitions dump as in a James Bond movie.

All this only serves to maintain Europe under the US geopolitical aegis, along with UK and Poland, which is their lapdog. Europe is at a crossroad: for the first time, its first trade partner is not the US but China, and Russia will have to be a first-class trade partner as well. So in face of this change, there is resistance from those who, until now, rather than partners, have been the masters and owners of Western Europe.

Apr 28, 2021
Disproof

This is part of a disinformation campaign about the events surrounding the Vrbetice explosion in 2014, which killed two people and led to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic in April 2021.

Contrary to the claim, accusations of Russia’s involvement in the Vrbetice explosion in 2014 are backed by conclusive evidence. The investigation by Czech authorities established beyond doubt that GRU [Russia’s military intelligence] agents Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, the same individuals considered responsible for the attempted murder of Sergey Skripal in Salisbury in 2018, were behind the Vrbetice explosion (see here for further details). In the same fashion, the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny wasn’t a plot against Nord Stream 2 but a Russian intelligence operation, as has been proven by international investigators (see here our previous debunk).

Disinfo: Western-Russian relations deteriorated because of Western actions

It is noteworthy that relations between Russia and Western countries, in particular, the United States of America and the countries of the European Union, deteriorated against the background of the Ukrainian crisis, the return of the Crimea to the motherland in March 2014, and the West's imposition of sanctions on Russia.

Apr 28, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative attempting to put responsibility for the deterioration in relations between Russia and the West exclusively on the latter, ignoring the reasons behind the sanctions.

The West and specifically the EU has imposed restrictive measures, including sectoral sanctions, as a result of the of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia's destabilising actions in eastern Ukraine.

Disinfo: Many defended DNR and LNR against Kyiv military operation

In the aftermath of the coup in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the citizens of the Donbas region announced the establishment of two popular republics - the Donetsk Republic and the Luhansk Republic. The Ukrainian regime responded to this action by launching a military operation in an attempt to regain control of the region. The attempt was unsuccessful, as many citizens of the region, most of them Russians or Russian speakers, volunteered to defend the two popular republics.

Apr 28, 2021
Disproof

Recurring disinformation message about eastern Ukraine, claiming that the aggression came as a response to the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv, often painted as a coup d'état, while claiming that local dwellers resisted alone without Russian military support and founded the DPR and LPR, at the same time undermining Ukrainian statehood.

Ukraine is not at war with millions of people from Donetsk and Luhansk as pro-Kremlin disinformation often likes to present it. The aim of these messages is to present the situation in Eastern Ukraine as an internal conflict, ignoring irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in the region. These claims intentionally misrepresent the reality of Russia's direct and crucial important support to separatist militant groups in Eastern Ukraine.