Reports
Lithuania Weekly: Kidnapping of a girl in Kaunas
During this reporting period, the entire country closely followed an intense drama, namely the search for a missing 9-year-old girl. Fortunately, she has been found alive after a frantic two-day search by officers and hundreds of volunteers. Lithuanian police successfully carried out an operation to free the girl, who was kidnapped and held in a garage in Kaunas. Despite the show of public unity, a well-known anti-government and Kremlin-aligned actor, Antanas Kandrotas (Celofanas [Cellophane]), continued to fuel passions on Lithuanian social networks. Celofanas has repeatedly claimed that he has “non-public information” about the crime and that “police are hiding the real situation”, urging his audience not to trust police officers in general. Right before the victim’s suspected abductor was detained, Celofanas sparked an outpouring of hate by naming and publishing a photograph of a man on Facebook, alleging his involvement in the crime. Turned out that he was not related to the crime at all.
Read more
Lithuania Weekly: Fire in the Viršuliskės Neighbourhood
During this reporting week, the stories from Lithuania’s remaining Kremlin-aligned media outlets that received the most engagement covered domestic issues. These centred around a fire at an apartment building in Vilnius, in which 15 people were rescued and two died. Malign actors quickly linked the event to different conspiracy theories; for example, referring to it as a terrorist attack, claiming that police knew about the bomb but did not stop the approaching accident, or even assuming that Ukrainian refugees may have brought the bomb.
Read more
Lithuania Monthly: Wagner Group Symbol on Display and Willingness to Defend
Specifically, malign Kremlin-aligned media channels that are still operating in Lithuania further promoted anti-government sentiments to their followers. Fair deal of the most engaged stories from this specific type of media discussed and emphasised the domestic issues and harshly commented on the poor work of the government or specific officials, broadcasting negative anti-government narratives to their audiences. During this reporting month, pro-Kremlin actors kept on questioning politicians’ competencies and financial transparency (referring to the previously analysed MG Baltic case) and criticised major institutions of the cointry, such as Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania, accusing it of committing severe crimes and comparing it to a “well-organised mafia”.
Read more
Lithuania Weekly: Discussions about Country’s Security
During this reporting week, heated discussions were mainly accelerated by two cases. Firstly, a man carrying a bag
Read moreShowing 61 to 64 of 82 results
Don't miss a story.
We publish stories that change laws, lives, minds and the world. Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigations delivered to your inbox.