Mediaskopas, a media monitoring company, presented on Thursday a study analysing Russian propaganda reports on Lithuania's energy independence efforts.
Mediaskopas says it selected and analysed 3,760 reports from Russian news websites between January 2021 and April 2024 that mentioned Lithuania and the other two Baltic countries in the context of energy issues.
“The study identified five narratives developed in the Russian media over the last three years,” the company said in a press release.
“The reports consistently push the idea that the Baltic countries themselves are to blame for the surge in electricity and gas prices in 2022 due to their decision to withdraw from Russia’s sphere of influence and synchronise their electricity grids with Western Europe,” it said.
According to Mediaskopas, the Kremlin is also trying to undermine confidence in green energy by claiming that it “will not save” the Baltic states.
The reports also portray Baltic politicians as implementing Washington’s agenda and aiming to “impoverish their citizens and ruin businesses”. In the propaganda narratives, this image stands in contrast to that of a “wealthy, generous Russia that has only benefited from Western sanctions against it”.
Aidas Petrošius, head of Business Development at Mediaskopas, pointed out that from 2021 onwards, Russia is particularly annoyed by the Baltic states’ goals to disconnect from the post-Soviet energy system.
“Every statement is accompanied by Russian disinformation about how difficult the process [of disconnecting from BRELL] is, how Lithuania is failing,” he said, adding that the aim is to sow distrust in the energy policy of Lithuania and the other Baltic countries.
The three Baltic states are now part of the Soviet-era BRELL network that also includes Belarus and is controlled by Moscow. Vilnius has been seeking to push the decoupling date forward following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.
On Wednesday, Lithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys said that there are no more obstacles for the Baltic countries to synchronise their power grids with the Continental European system early next year and notify Moscow by August 7 of their withdrawal from the BRELL ring.
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