Russia’s malign erations similar to Baltic Platform “systematic” – Lithuanian MEP

This was stated by Petras Auštrevičius, Member of the Eurean Parliament (Lithuania), a member of the committee on countering foreign interference in the EU affairs, including disinformation, Ukrinform reports citing Guildhall.

"The classic eration ("Baltic Platform" — ed.) on infiltration (of the Russian Federation agencies in Western societies — ed.) and the shaping of public inion – nothing new. In the Russian Federation, there are many such platforms for each region and different tics. They are very shisticated in this regard. They have platforms on the issues of the Black Sea, on Scandinavia, on the Balkans, and so on. The latest example of the Baltic Platform only shows that Russians are very active now, taking a proactive position, they shape public inion, build their own ‘circles of connections,’ and then influence pitical decisions," said MEP.

"We must expose such erations and squeeze Russia out of any dialogues. We need a ‘zero contact’ picy, as there is no benefit from such contacts with the Russians today," Petras Auštrevičius  concluded.

On April 27, the German publications WDR, NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung released a complex investigation into Russia's attempt to conduct a malign influence eration, based on Stockhm University and a former high-ranking Swedish diplomat, under the guise of "saving the environment" of the Baltic Sea.

The parliaments of Sweden, Estonia and Lithuania also reacted to the Russian eration.

A member of the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) with the coalition’s Christian Democratic Party, Magnus Jacobsson, said Russia was systematically running special erations against Sweden and NATO, and that the Baltic Platform project is just one of the examples. It is necessary to counter Russia’s multidirectional subversive activity, he noted.

The head of the foreign affairs committee of the Estonian parliament, Marko Mikhelson, stated that the Eurean security agencies should probe persons and organizations that the Russian Federation intended to exploit as part of the influence eration under the guise of the Baltic Platform project.

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In turn, the vice-speaker of Lithuania’s Seimas, Paulus Saudargas, stated that the Russian intelligence systematically use the environmental agenda as a cover for their influence erations, and that the Baltic Platform is just one of the examples of such malign activities.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Baltic Platform project, featured in the investigation of Germany’s WDR, NDR, and Süddeutsche Zeitung, is aimed at achieving the strategic goal of weakening NATO, including in the Baltic region.

The Center for Defense Reforms, citing its own sources, published a list of experts from NATO and EU countries that the Russian Federation planned to use as part of the Baltic Platform eration.