Russia uses anti-LGBT+ sentiments to cast itself as defender of religious values - NATO official

RIGA - Russia is currently using anti-LGBT+ sentiments to cast itself as  a defender of supposedly traditional and religious values, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Baiba Braze said at the Diversity and Inclusion Forum on Tuesday. 

Braze indicated that Russia is attempting to get involved in social movements intent on marginalizing LGBT+ people. 

From the Alliance's very beginnings, Russia has been doing all sorts of things to divide, influence and weaken NATO. Today, Russia's methods have changed and primarily involve the use of modern technologies, the NATO official said. 

Braze noted that Russia's aim is to sow divisions in NATO to make it more difficult for the organization to take decisions and act quickly. 

Although Russia's operations are well planned and organized, they still fail to achieve the intended goal. 

According to Braze, Russia is using anti-LGBT+ thinking to its advantage, stressing that Russia is a country whose fundamental values are tradition and religion. 

Braze pointed out that inclusion and diversity are one of NATO's key principles and each employee is a valuable part of the collective because diversity and inclusion is the basis of what NATO is and what it does. 

Discussing external threats and how to resist them, Braze said that resilience is a new focus of the Alliance, which means not only the resilience of infrastructure, but also the resilience of society, the basis of which is the private sector, social groups and individuals aware of their values and threats. 

According to Braze, modern military attacks involve hybrid attacks, including information threats, cyberattacks, threats to energy supply, etc. 

Braze called on people to realize that all of this is part of modern warfare and that each individual has their role to play in defense against information attacks. 

NATO's countermeasures involve four activities - identifying the hostile actors, their actions and operations, sharing information with others in a similar situation and figuring out the right response, identifying the depth of the damage and stopping the threat.