Reports
Lithuania Weekly: Farmers’ protest takes over in Vilnius
Lithuanian Radio and Television worked with other supporters of Ukraine to launch a second iteration of last year’s successful pro-Ukrainian RADAROM! simultaneously, posts by Kremlin-aligned actors criticising this campaign emerged online, actively diminishing support for Ukraine. Moreover, during this reporting period, a large protest by farmers occurred in the Vilnius city centre. They brought their demands to Vilnius, lining the city’s main boulevard with around 1,300 pieces of heavy agricultural machinery. Kremlin-aligned media emphasised the ignorance and incompetence of the ruling officials. Once again, a large-scale event in Lithuania has become fertile soil for Kremlin-aligned actors to spread anti-government narratives.
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Lithuania Weekly: Protest’s Echoes
Kremlin-aligned outlets this week heavily concentrated on anti-government sentiments. Majority of the most engaged stories from this type of media covered domestic issues, harshly criticising either specific officials or the whole government in general. Issues related to Ukraine also remained of high importance, narratives concerning its prioritisation over Lithuania’s domestic issues and Ukraine’s “hardly possible” victory, were highly prominent. Of way lesser importance, but still prominent was the narrative covering war between Israel and Hamas. This time, far more articles emphasised military actions from Israel towards Gaza than in the previous period.
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Lithuania Weekly: Protest Outside the Seimas
Kremlin-aligned media channels in Lithuania continued to broadcast anti-government sentiments to their audiences. Most of the top stories from this type of media covered domestic issues and widely commented on the work of the government or specific politicians, carrying a negative anti-government narrative. During this reporting week, Kremlin-aligned actors emphasised citizens’ growing dissatisfaction with the current government, referring to the protest held outside the Seimas. The invitation to the rally was supported by the Movement of Families of Lithuania (Šeimų Sąjūdis) and its related or formerly associated actors, as well as by the low-quality, pseudo-media websites. were numerous well-known Kremlin-aligned personas, such as Antanas Kandrotas-Celofanas. What was initially supposed to be a protest against specific tax turned into a general rally against the current government, broadly transmitting well known anti-government narrative.
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Lithuania Weekly: Global Security, Anti-government Sentiments, and New Fundraisers
Alongside mainstream/independent media coverage of ongoing events and widely discussed topics, Kremlin-aligned media in Lithuania further promoted the anti-government narrative. Almost all top stories from this type of media covered the work of the ruling government or specific politicians, as well the prioritisation of Ukraine over domestic issues. Hostile media not only continued to undermine Lithuania’s ongoing support for Ukraine, but also asked rhetorical questions about the need for humanitarian support elsewhere following the Hamas attacks on Israel, such as “how long will we have to wait until another fundraiser will appear to take our money?”.
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