The ambassador had in mind France’s intentions to sell Mistral warship to Russia.  He said, “I personally think this isn’t a good development. This indicates to an evident difference in how NATO and a member state approach defence policy. NATO sees Russia as a threat, and here we are providing them with defence capabilities”.  The diplomat added, “NATO is open to Russia, meanwhile Russia follows a doctrine of NATO being a threat or danger of sorts”.

A decade ago, when in Prague a decade of the velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia was celebrated, the former leader of the Soviet Union tried to convince that one should not reject the attitudes of the other side as well.

I do not believe that somebody, who nineteen years ago has experienced those events in Vilnius, would believe that the other truth also exists. The standard of „two attitudes“ can not pass the reality. Maybe the denial of Holocaust in some Western European countries is considered to be a crime to some purpose. And nobody doubts, that this is not contradicting to the concept of the freedom of speech.

The Lithuanian journalists can be proud of themselves that after the events of the 13th of January only  one side was introduced in our public sphere, that nobody went to work in the television of collaborators (TV set up by Soviets in the in the brutally occupied Lithuanian TV and Radio premises – LTribune), the so-called “What-a vision” ‘Kaspervizija’. Then we understood that a formal hearing of different sides can not be considered as a democracy. Social life is not a scale, on the first plate of which one can put justice, respect for human rights and democratic principles, and on the second – morality and propriety.

The story of the prisons of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that is today continuing in Lithuania is one of those phenomena when two different opinions are tried to be established and the illusion of controversy is tried to be supported. If we would rest upon the principles of honour, we would have to admit regretfully that the secret prisons existed in Lithuania.

One can wonder at the work of the work of the Seimas’ Committee on National Security and Defence. Previous September all the members of this committee were convinced that it is enough to deny a rumour, made by the media. During four months the opinion of these people has changed essentially. One can come to a conclusion that the partners could bring whatever to Lithuania, without any control and to do whatever in a closed sphere, the others being unaware of this. In legal terms, this kind of conclusion is streamlined, anybody can say (and says) that as there’re no evidences, concerning the prisoners, thus, there were no prisons either. However, these kind of statements we can fling around only at home, forgetting the international context as well as the principles of state sovereignty.

Today we have no choice: only after having proved that there were no prisoners, brought to Lithuania, we will believe ourselves that there were no secret prisons. Otherwise nobody in the world will understand, why the mover of the sortie against the twins of New York, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was taken from the secret prison in Poland to „somewhere“ exactly at that time when the object No.2 was finished to be outfitted in Antaviliai.

Only CIA could prove that there were no prison in Lithuania. However, CIA will not do this. There’s such a kind of a crime in the USA that is defined as impeding justice.

I want to believe that the wave of the so-called justice that arose in Lithuania, i.e. the drive of the denial of the secret prisons, is backed-up by the best patriotic motifs. It is necessary to rescue the honour of the state. However, neither by lying, nor by hiding his head in the sand, one can not rescue the honour. By doing this, we are only poisoning our public sphere that is not very clean.

The possibility that the story of the secret prisons can lead to the revision of Lithuanian political events of several previous years and to a totally alternative estimation of them causes the biggest fear for a lot of people. So far it was very complicated to explain rationally some of the decisions of the President Valdas Adamkus, made during his second cadence. Why did he support “Leo LT”? Why he confused between steadiness and stagnation and supported the government of Gediminas Kirkilas? Why in the case of Vytautas Pociūnas he [President Valdas Adamkus] in as many words  supported the side of the secret services?

When politicians are unified by a common secret, it is hard to expect that only the interests of a nation and state will dictate the decisions. If V.Adamkus would indeed had not known about the secret prisons, today his reaction would for sure be different – he would humanly rebel and would be the first one who would require to investigate the suspicions. A human who had matured in a democratic society, understands that even a bitter truth would better protect state’s honour than a sweet lie would do.

Someone can rejoice over the possibility that the story of the secret prisons will help to retrieve the impeached president Rolandas Paksas. I would have doubts about this. The hand of Jurijus Borisovas will not vanish, however maybe in the process of impeachment we will set eyes on more colours, not only on white and red. And we will remember once again in what a complicated geopolitical space we are living – in a space where only the truth can be an antidote against the games of foreign secret services.

Twenty years ago, when addressing himself to the nation for the first time via TV, the contemporary President of Czechoslovakia* Václav Havel* was reading his text from paper. To him it seemed that it is better to remind an old communist functionary than to trust prompter who is being steered by unknown hands.
———————————————————————————————————————
Gintaras Aleknonis, commentator and host of the Public Radio programmes, Dean and Lecture of the Mykolas Romeris University, former employee of the Radio Liberty.

Translated by Milda Bagdonaitė

The LNK news stated that the former State Security Department employees admitted that such a secret CIA prison existed in Lithuania.  Further more, they provided the Committee with the code name of the operation used to transport the terrorist suspects to Lithuania.

According to the LNK news report some of the State Security Department’s employees acted on they own accord and will be summoned for questioning to the Parliamentary Committee again, since it is obvious that they lied to the Committee during the previous questioning.

All highest Lithuanian officials from the President to the Army chief denied of having anything to do with the secret CIA prisons and maintained that they have not heard anything about their existence.

Head of the Committee Arvydas Anušauskas has declined to comment and informed the media that the Committee will continue questioning another half of the relevant officials.  The head of the Committee stated that this investigation should be completed by this Christmas.

Lithuania’s Russians Are Kremlin’s Weapon? by Denis Tarasenko

Moscow does not hide that all former USSR Republics are within its zone of exclusive influence. It does not matter that some former USSR Republics have already joined NATO and the EU, they still remain “the near abroad,” with all the ensuing consequences.

Lately, Russia has been doing nothing else but building up its invisible presence in these counties, including Lithuania. Russia is not really worried about its compatriots, but it finds it convenient to use us (the compatriots) as a means to achieve its geopolitical goals. These thoughts were expressed by the political scientists from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, who presented their research on Russia’s influence in the former USSR Republics in Vilnius last week, Litovskiy Kuryer writes.

On All Fronts
The research, which the authors called “Humanitarian Aspects of Russia’s Foreign Policy Towards Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and the Baltic Countries,” was conducted for the first time. Political scientists from these countries tried to define and describe Russia’s activities in its “near abroad” in five key areas: Russia’s practical experience in the area of human rights, Russia’s policy towards the Russian-speaking population living outside Russia, Russia’s consular activities, partnership in the areas of culture and science, and the Russian media and the press in the aforementioned countries.

In the past, we heard some paranoid and hysterical statements that the concert of the Russian group Lube on the day of Lithuania’s independence and the planned for the beginning of 2010 concert of Alla Pugachiova was a special operation planned by Russia to discredit the Lithuanian independence day, but this time the political scientists had a grown-up approach to the research.

Litovskiy Kuryer further writes, they analysed the activities of Russian public organizations, the influence of Russian culture, the level of knowledge of the Russian language, and the work of the Lithuanian Russian-language and the Russian press and media in Lithuania.

I have to admit the work was factual rather than emotional. The 352 pages of the research mainly contain facts from publicly accessible sources; there are no fallacies or any kind of conclusions. It simply presents information, such as that the First Baltic Channel is becoming more and more popular and that its audience are not just ethnic Russians, but also many Lithuanian Poles and Lithuanians; that Lithuanian television channels start broadcasting more and more of Russian serials and talk shows, which are often broadcast with subtitles and no dubbing; that more and more of new publications come to the Lithuanian market, including the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda; and that new Russian-language projects appear on the Internet, and that they instantly become popular among Internet users, reported Denis Tarasenko sais.

Compatriots Become a Weapon
“The purpose of this research was to analyse Russia’s influence in neighbouring countries, and this is exactly what was done. The research was carried out in Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Monika Greta Tuckute, director of the Centre for Geopolitical Studies, told the journalists after the presentation of the research by the experts at the conference. She said that each country had one expert for collecting and summarizing the information. “The main goal was to reveal the means that Russia uses to maintain its influence and to strengthen it,” the expert said to Litovskiy Kuryer.

She gave an example that Lithuania’s Russian-speaking population says in opinion polls that their rights are not violated and that they are sufficiently satisfied with the situation in the country.

“It is another issue how Russia interprets the situation of the Russian-speaking Lithuanian citizens.  Lithuania is presented as a country where the living conditions of the Russian-speaking population are not the best. This is the biggest paradox, because Russia has an absolutely different interpretation of the life of Russians in Lithuania and thus creates and image of Lithuania as a fairly hostile country that does not want to create a positive climate for its Russian-speaking citizens,” Tuckute said.

She noted, Litovskiy Kuryer writes, that the results of the research show however that the country that is being seen as having the most hostile attitude towards the Russians is Georgia and in the Baltic countries – Estonia. The Lithuanian expert said that Russia presents the situation of the Russians living outside Russia as negative in the countries where some conflict or scandal takes place. As an example she mentioned the transfer of the Bronze Soldier in Estonia.

When asked by the paper, whether there have been any scandals in Lithuania that could provoke Russia to react, Tuckute gave a negative reply. “We have not had any conflict situations lately. The only case we could mention here is the scandal when Modest Kolerov (editor-in-chief of Regnum.ru) was denied entry to Lithuania on his way to a conference organized by Litovskiy Kuryer). But I do not think that it was the case that could have a negative effect on our relations,” Tuckute said. She said that Russia uses economic and energy aspects when dealing with Lithuania, not the aspect involving the rights of the Russian minority.

As an example she mentioned the Druzhba Pipeline incident in 2006. The delivery of oil to Lithuania via the pipeline was stopped. Another example is that Russia has restricted the import of Lithuanian dairy products.

The expert said to Litovskiy Kuryer that, in her opinion, Russia tends to create artificial problems from the things that happen in the natural course of events, the events that are not usually deliberately planned. For example, she said that Russian schools in Lithuania are being closed not because Lithuania does not allow its Russian-speaking citizens to get education in their native language, but because there are not enough students and thus several schools merge into one. By the way, the research notes that pubic opinion polls show that Russian families tend to send their children to Lithuanian schools, because they hope that this would help them integrate into society and it would be easier for them to find a job.

Tuckute said that the problem of the people living in Visaginas, where the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is located, is the real problem. The majority of Visaginas residents are Russian-speaking people. She said that, in her opinion, it was indeed necessary to pay attention to this problem, because it is not clear what these people will be doing after the nuclear plant is shut down at the end of this year.

For Propaganda Purposes
According to another Lithuanian expert, political scientist Nerijus Maliukevicius, it is normal that countries take care of their national minorities, and that this is what Western countries do as well. However, Russia uses the Western tactic for absolutely different purposes. “Russian political technologists use the Western concepts and the tools of ’soft power,’ but they completely change the content. They use the interpretation of history and the issues related to human rights for their propaganda purposes. It is important to understand that, and this is why this research was carried out,” Maliukevicius said to Litovskiy Kuryer.

He stated that this policy is beneficial to Russia and that it uses it to strengthen its interests in the post-Soviet zone. In his opinion, even at the highest governmental level Russia does not deny that the countries of the former USSR are in the zone of its interests.

In Maliukevicius’s view, Russia has various tools to influence the situation. “Starting with military force and ending with so-called ‘humanitarian intervention’,” the political scientist said. However, he said that there is something that does not pose any danger to Lithuania yet, but Lithuanian politicians should pay their attention to that. “We need to solve the problems of the Russian minority, so that the Russian Embassy or Russian politicians do not need to interfere. If we let matters drift, it will create a situation that Russian political technologists could use for their purposes,” Maliukevicius said.

Moreover, he noted that besides using the Russian-speaking minority for its humanitarian policy, Russia even more actively uses the Polish minority living in Lithuania.

“We Need To Solve the Problems of the Russians”
When asked by the paper how Russia can influence the situation in Lithuania by using the Russian minority if the minority is small, does not feel discriminated by the Lithuanian authorities, and is relatively well-integrated, Maliukevicius said that “the situation of the Russian-speaking Lithuanian citizens is dual.”

“I am not saying that all is well. I think that the Russian-speaking people have many problems. The situation with the language and the decreasing number of students in the Russian-language schools is tragic. But the most important thing is not to make it a double tragedy, not to allow political technologists to use these problems to advance their own interests and to play propaganda games,” the expert said.

He noted to Litovskiy Kuryer that Lithuanian politicians, public organizations, and experts should think about that. The political scientist also mentioned the problem of Visaginas and the active work of the Russian Embassy with the population of this town. “There is virtually no information in the Lithuanian media and the press on this problem. This is why Lithuania should work in this direction so that there is no niche for Russia’s manipulations,” Maliukevicius said.

When asked by the paper about information warfare, the political scientist said that during the discussions conducted in the framework of the research, he and his colleagues from Latvia, and especially from Estonia, established that there was a shift in Russia’s information policy as far as the rights of the Russian-speaking people and the interpretation of history are concerned. He said that this happened more or less in 2004-2005.

“This was caused by the upcoming anniversary of victory in the Second World War, but it was a very clear step taken by political technologists to shift the topics discussed by the Russian-speaking people in public domain to historic issues. We can see that from the documentaries that have been created on the topic and the books that have been published. Such things give an impulse to display intense emotions in various communities that have various attitudes. Such things never lead to anything good, but the politicians from both sides in the conflict use such situations to generate support for themselves. This is a very strong argument for the Kremlin politicians to work on this topic, because by doing so they create an image of Russia being surrounded with pseudo enemies. And here in Lithuania the situation is used for the same purposes. And the worst thing is – and we talked about this issue during the discussion – that we do not know whether this tendency will change. The terrible thing is that the situation could be getting even worse because of a very simple reason – we already have a generation raised on this media warfare on both sides, this generation has its own beliefs. This new generation will be even more actively participating in such discussions. And if an escalation of this historic topic continues, we could have a repeat of the Bronze Soldier situation. Even in Lithuania,” the political scientist said to Litovskiy Kuryer.

In conclusion he noted that the measures to prevent such a scenario could be very simple. “The problem of the Russian compatriots in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia could be solved in a very simple way – we should tell ourselves that these are not Russian compatriots. These are our compatriots. These are our citizens with their own needs and problems. If we perceive this part of our society this way, then all potential dangers and history games will be neutralized and propaganda campaigns will fail,” the political scientist said to Litovskiy Kuryer.

The paper reminded that the last Russian President’s visit to Sweden took place in 2001.   However, much has changed since then, especially in the Baltic Region when the Baltic States joined NATO in 2004.

Sweden has positioned a new foundation for its defence policy. It was discreet when on 16 June the parliament stated that we “should be able to give and receive a military assistance.” There is a Swedish declaration of solidarity with our neighbours. There is also an adaptation to the EU Lisbon Treaty coming into force on 1 December. The Treaty’s Article 42 provides that if a Member State, the victim of armed aggression, the other countries are obliged to provide support, the SvD writes.

The Swedish military has previously only defended its territory or contributed to peace efforts in far away places. Now Swedish forces could also be seen in our neighbourhood. This notion was confirmed to the SvD by the Swedish Minister of Defence Sten Tolgfors ‘Previously, we did not have a defence and security for the neighbourhood. That we have now. We cannot remain silent when an EU country or another Nordic country is threatened.

Could we help Baits militarily in a crisis, the paper asked the Minister: ‘If an EU country or another Nordic country is threatened, we would take a decision in each case separately. How to act depends on the individual case. It can be anything from civil actions to various types of support which on of them may also be of a military nature.’

Sweden will now review its operational defence planning. The war in Georgia 2008 was a watershed with decision to place tanks for storage on the Baltic island of Gotland.  Another signal to the outside world is that this autumn Sweden has twice shipped its military unites to Gotland and held military exercises there.

The paper claims that in the case of a crisis in the Baltics Sweden (and Finland, which has a similar solidarity clause) could be a base for allied forces.

During this meeting Lithuania’s Defence Minister Rasa Jukneviciene expressed her wish that three Baltic States to be included in future major defence cooperation projects in Northern Europe, the Ministry of Defence press release stated.

According to the press release the ministers discussed regional cooperation initiatives in Northern and Eastern Europe, with the main focus on Russia, NATO issues and Sweden’s presidency over the European Union.

It has to be noted that previously Lithuania emphasised its military cooperation with Poland and NATO partners.  It could be assumed that the military cooperation with Poland will be on the high agenda in Vilnius, but the latest Minister’s call for Baltic-Nordic cooperation could be regarded as a move to open a ‘new window’ in Lithuania’s strategic security planning.

At the session on Afghanistan stabilization the Minister Jukneviciene informed her counterparts about Lithuania’s plans to develop Afghan police training project with

other partners in Afghanistan’s Ghor province where Lithuania heads a Provincial Reconstruction Team, the press release says.

At the end of the meeting, the Nordic and Baltic defence ministers issued a joint communiqué on Nordic and Baltic participation in the mission in Afghanistan.

The next meeting of Nordic and Baltic defence ministers is scheduled to take place in Norway next autumn.

Lithuania’s president Grybauskaite met with Rasmussen at the Zuokniai military airport were the NATO air-policing mission is station.

Lithuania’s President admitted that neither Lithuania, neither the other Baltic States have defence plans.  ‘As for countries with traditional defence plans, standing for almost 20 years, we have only four such countries in NATO.  We’re discussing a possibility for defending the Baltic region in a new and modern way. The new concept will dictate the form this may take on,’ she said.  Rasmussen said that NATO was preparing plans of guaranteeing security to all of its members.

Grybauskaite stated ‘The new strategy must be renewed as threats are accumulating and transforming and are often more dangerous than a territorial attack. In today’s global context, Lithuania will take an active part in discussing and changing NATO structures, more precisely its future and its concept, i.e. what defence and what threats are most relevant at the time.’

The Lithuanian President stated that it is very important that NATO is investing in defence of the Baltic States: ‘We have been assured that NATO is still interested in investing in defence of the Baltic region.’

Mr Usackas said to LNK TV; “Clinton noted that the US administration’s decision on the missile defence system was influenced by the character of threats from Iran, not Russia’s attitude. She said that the new system will guarantee better defence of countries in Central and Eastern Europe”.

However, he noted to H. Clinton that this message should be communicated to policy makers a wider audience since the Central European region felt lack of any explanation from Washington.

The State Secretary H. Clinton in her article on 20 September stated; ‘For 60 years, the NATO alliance has been a force for peace, prosperity and security in Europe and around the world because of the commitment to collective security embodied in Article V of its charter: an attack on one ally is an attack on all. An attack on London or Warsaw is an attack on New York or Washington. NATO demonstrated this commitment after the September 11 terrorist attacks, when for the first time, the alliance invoked Article V and NATO sent assets to the US to help protect us from additional terrorist attacks.’

Finally, according to informal reports available to BNS, deputy to US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates is coming to Vilnius in the end of next week to brief Lithuania on the new defence.

The Prime Minster Kubilius stated to Bloomberg that Obama Administration should know a simple fact: the Central Europeans and the Balts need reassurance of their security.  Kubilius said to Bloomberg Eastern Europe needs “a gesture which would show that what was intended to be done by the previous administration is going to be done maybe in another way, but which would show real and practical involvement of the United States in the building of security”.

Lithuanian Minister of Defence Rasa Jukneviciene said to BNS quoted by alfa.lt said: “We strongly supported the project because it would have boosted our security. The region cannot be an exception among NATO’s other regions, and its defence suppose to be as important as that of other regions. Information that was publicly available suggests that Russia was the country that particularly opposed the project. Naturally, many people draw conclusions that this has to do with Russia”.

Vygandas Usackas, the Minister of Foreign Affairs that “The political message they’re sending is not the best one.”  The Minister stated that he will meet the US Secretary of State next week in New York and they will talk about this issue.

The Chairperson of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs, MP Audronis Azubalis was blunter: “The reason that the missile defence shield is being abandoned because of plans to build a new modern defence system sounds unbelievable. It will only be created around 2018. It seems to me that these actions simply reveal the attitude of the new US administration towards the Eastern European region.” Ziniu radijas quoted him.

Marius Laurinavicius, deputy editor of Lietuvos Rytas daily said to Ziniu radijas that even though he new that this news will become official, he was expecting that it will be communicated in more subtle way.  Clumsy timing (today is 70 years since the Soviet Union attacked Poland), and no coordination with the Eastern European partners showed that Obama’s Administration is less sensitive to the Eastern Europeans.  Unfortunately, such communication of this message let the Russians believe that they achieved one more victory in Eastern Europe.

P.S. The Bush Administration was criticised that it made many enemies.  However, Obama Administration’s actions might loose the USA its staunchest supporters.  It is very unlikely that USA acquired a ‘new friend’ in the yes of Kremlin, it only reinforced their conviction that USA is getting weaker.  Russia is playing only by ‘zero sum’ game and it is only acknowledges power.  Therefore, it seams that the Easter Europeans and the Balts have reason to be worried.

Another worrying assumption is that the latest Washington’s move was a result of Obama’s last trip to Moscow.  Who can deny that a deal between Moscow and Washington was struck during his last trip – you give us access to Afghanistan we abandon our missile programme in Central Europe.  If it is true, it would be extremely dangerous development.

The Lithuanian authorities vigorously denied those allegations as rumours and fantasies and maintain that no such facilities were stationed on Lithuanian territory. Even though President Grybauskaite stated that a commission should be created to investigate the allegations, the Prime Minister Kubilius was not too sure, since the investigations already were conduced in the past.

Chairman of the Seimas National Security and Defence Committee Mr Anusauskas has sent a request to the ABC News reporter Matthew Cole asking to disclose the sources and help the investigation.  However, Mr Cole replied in the letter by assuring the chairman that this information is reliable, that he will continue on the topic and he would never disclose his sources.

He said in his letter btained by BNS ‘Despite not being able to share with you any evidence or documentation, both I, and ABC News, fully stand by our reporting. I had four sources confirming the information, as well as sources who worked at the location.’  ABC News will likely report more on a secret prison operated by the CIA in Lithuania, the journalist said.

The Lithuanian parliamentary committees of National Security and Defence and Foreign Affairs on 9 August came to a conclusion that the Foreign Ministry should appeal to the United States for information about the secret CIA prison in Lithuania.

Mr Nerijus Maliukevicius, a lecturer of the Vilnius University International Relations and Political Science Institute was quoted by alfa.lt saying that if the investigation will prove that Lithuania never hosted CIA prisons the ABC News should either confirm or deny it by providing the information to Vilnius.

He said “Should the investigation of the National Security and Defence Committee and its results prove that the prison never existed, I believe we should appeal to the ABC channel via diplomatic channels and demand denial of the information. In such case we will see the credibility of ABC’s so-called sources. They either misled or the channel will have to say B after saying A, i.e., provide more facts to corroborate the statements. Or apologize for misleading the public”.