Lithuania dismisses Moscow claims on Baltic airspace use as propaganda

VILNIUS - Lithuania’s military on Tuesday dismissed Moscow’s claims that Baltic states provided airspace for Ukrainian strikes against Russia as a coordinated propaganda attack.

"Recently, the Russian and Belarusian regimes have been spreading false information about an official decision by the Baltic states to allow Ukraine to use their airspace for drone attacks against Russia," the military said on Tuesday.

"This information is being disseminated widely-from social media posts to statements by high-ranking Russian officials-suggesting that the Kremlin is conducting a coordinated information attack," the military added.

The assessment by military analysts follows comments by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Monday, who claimed Russia had warned the Baltic states over their alleged permission for Ukraine to use their airspace for strikes.

Similar comments were made several days ago by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

According to the Lithuanian military, recent statements from officials of the hostile state are "considered active information activities directed against Lithuania and our closest partners," using public intimidation tactics.

The military believes the aim is to increase emotional pressure and intimidate Lithuania by suggesting Russia is prepared to shoot down targets over Baltic airspace or strike the territory of these countries.

"Intimidation, threats to use kinetic measures, issuing ultimatums, and drawing red lines are well-known propaganda methods used repeatedly since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine," the military said.

"There is no doubt that this is intended to weaken our society's will to defend itself, and to reduce support for strengthening our defences and for Ukraine," the military noted.

Latvia has already declared the Russian claims regarding airspace use to be a disinformation campaign and has lodged a protest with Moscow, while Estonia has directly rejected the Russian allegations.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry apologised to its partners for incidents where Ukrainian drones entered Baltic airspace, stating the aircraft likely veered off course due to the effects of Russian electronic warfare systems.