Belarus seeks to accuse Lithuania of planning coup against Minsk regime - army

VILNIUS - Lithuanian army analysts are seeing efforts to accuse Lithuania and NATO of plotting a coup against the Lukashenko regime, the army said on Friday.

The flow of hostile information remained unchanged in November, compared to October, but analysts reported an in increase in information pressure from Belarus. According to the report, Lithuania and NATO were accused of posing a threat to Belarus. During this period, the hostile information space was dominated by military themes, including Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Western support to Kyiv, as well as NATO and Lithuania's relations with Russia and Belarus.

The army reports highlights a documentary aired on a Belarusian state channel about an alleged attempted coup foiled by Belarusian security services. It alleges that the Lithuanian and Polish authorities are financing and training Belarusian opposition members to cross the Belarusian border and take military action. It also mentions that NATO forces were to be involved in the next stage of this action.

The documentary was not only shown by the Belarusian media, but was also aired by the Russian media, leading to reactions from high-ranking propagandists in these countries.

According to the Lithuanian army, this is not the first time this year that similar communication and narratives have been observed.

Military analysts consider these incidents to be part of a disinformation campaign and say they have to do with the upcoming Belarusian presidential election on January 26 next year.

According to the military report, Western countries' decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to launch attacks on Russian territory also attracted a lot of attention in the hostile countries' media.

"Long before this decision, Russian information pressure against NATO was felt as it was claimed that such a decision was the last red line that Russia would consider as NATO's final involvement in the war in Ukraine and that such a decision would lead to consequences," the report states.

According to the military, the West's decision led to a sharp rise in tensions in the hostile countries' media. This was further exacerbated by subsequent events, such as the signing of the updated Russian nuclear doctrine by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the use of the Oreshnik missile against Ukraine.

Washington is supplying Ukraine with its long-range ATACMS missiles capable of striking targets deep inside Russian territory. This has provoked an angry response from Moscow and led to the testing of its new hypersonic missile.

According to the report, the hostile media also accused Lithuania and other Baltic countries of pursuing a Russophobic policy and discriminating against ethnic minorities.

The Russian media continued to focus on the Baltic countries' energy policy.

"In this context, the focus is mainly on the planned disconnection of the Baltic states from the BRELL system, with the aim of convincing the public in these countries that this step is being taken deliberately in order to deteriorate their quality of life," the army said.