Almost 3 thousand attacks in a single year
As noted by the representatives of Lithuania’s Strategic Communication Department (LK SKD), Lithuania’s economic projects are receiving a lot of attention from Russia’s information channels. The projects are almost always a target of belittlement. Projects are being described as economically unsound, ineffective, damaging etc.
LK SKD did not do a separate analysis of “Rail Baltica”, however, based on 2890 information incidents in 2019, 14 per cent of those consisted of economic and energy topics.
“Any Western integration of Baltic states, whether in the context of communications, energy or logistics and transportation, reduced the number of opportunities available to Russian Federation (RF) to affect country’s political processes, and as a result reduced its geopolitical influence in Europe”, - said LK SKD representative.
Speaking of “Rail Baltica”, its meaningfulness is often being reduced using the following narratives:
- Baltic logistics projects are based on politics, not economics, which is why they are destined to fail. Alternatives to rail are cheaper. The project will not pay for itself, because there is a limited passenger and freight demand in the Baltic states. Therefore, no one is planning to invest a lot of money, and the project may remain unfinished.
- Rail Baltica is one big corruption scam and proves that the ineffective use of EU funds is at the heart of Europe. It has been known for a long time that EU Structural Funds are being embezzled in the receiving EU member states. As a result, donor states no longer want to give money to Baltic states. UK’s exit from the EU will reduce the overall budget. Therefore it is illogical to waste money on such a project.
- Almost all new infrastructure projects in the Baltic states have failed, while during the USSR period, the countries were at the forefront because USSR’s management was more effective than that of the current EU. Baltic transport is still closely intertwined with RF economy and freight flows from RF to seaports of the Baltic States.
- Rail Baltica became a national security priority project for the Baltic states, devoted to helping NATO move its military forces to RF border quicker, and EU is paying for this. It is illogical to create a serious transport infrastructure at the front line because it will be destroyed in the first few hours of conflict.
By also employing the dissemination of fake information, propaganda and other factual interpretations, efforts are made to create doubts about the project’s viability and meaningfulness, as well as sow discord among countries building the project.
It means we are doing well
“Rail Baltica project was always in the purview of neighbouring countries and, based on the praises received from the EU, this railroad is eagerly expected, because it will fill in a gap in the freight chain that allows goods to travel in the direction of Scandinavian-Adriatic sea. For other neighbours, this project is an economic competitor. Based on economic logic, if the country with which you are competing is creating a poor project, it would be wise to stay silent and increase own competitive advantage. If efforts are made to belittle the project, that means we are doing everything right”, - said Karolis Sankovsi, general director of “Lithuania’s rail infrastructure”.
“Sputniknews”, a news portal that publishes news in Russian as well as all languages of the Baltic states, in its Lithuanian version of the website has released 39 publications which speak about “Rail Baltica” just on its own. Almost all of the publications aimed at the project ended with a small ‘prayer’ – “Many experts view the future railroad with scepticism. They noted the project’s unprofitability and its economic meaninglessness”. It is almost never mentioned who those experts are.
Common topics – economic unreasonableness of the project, supposed disagreements between Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia about the project, and scaremongering that EU will no longer finance the project. The fact that the project is moving forward is almost completely ignored.
For example, one of the recent publications states that “the coronavirus pandemic has deepened the problems of “Rail Baltica” project, because it has no basis in economics, and that means that no one in the EU will fight for it”. However, what the opinion of Michail Beliajev of Russia’s strategic research institute is based on is unknown.
“The fact that infrastructure adjustments for the needs of “Rail Baltica” at the Kaunas railway junction are successfully moving forward despite the complications related to COVID-19, and the project is due to be completed on time, seems to be too small of a factor to mention. This successfully ongoing project is practically unmentioned on the website. Perhaps this is because it is an example of how the work continues on schedule, the funding is plenty, and European gauge trains will be able to travel to Kaunas intermodal terminal as soon as next year. This will substantially strengthen Lithuania’s position on the international freight shipping market”, - says K. Sankovski.
Strategic project in the spotlight of propaganda
Rail Baltica is not the only project that has felt information-based attacks. There was an increased interest by Russia funded information sources in the efforts to increase Lithuania’s and Latvia’s competitiveness.
According to LK SKD representative, “One such example is the publication of fake information on October 2nd 2018, which claimed that Latvia’s government approved the construing of a liquid gas terminal (SGD) at the Riga port. This information quickly spread around the Russian language portals. These non-friendly websites, which were attempting to sow discord between Lithuania and Latvia, described these plans as Latvia’s revenge to Lithuania, for the latter’s decision to build SGD in Klaipeda without consulting its neighbours.
In 2019, the largest change in harmful information activity was recorded in the areas of energy and economics and made up 14 per cent of all incidents. Such a doubling in the growth rate of harmful information was stimulated by the energy projects being developed in neighbouring countries, mainly Belarus and Russia (Kaliningrad). The media tried to convince of the importance and need of these projects by belittling projects important to Lithuania, namely the construction of Klaipeda SGD terminal and project to disconnect itself from the BRELL electricity ring.
Just as in previous years, the main aim of the dissemination of targeted harmful information against our country is to belittle Lithuania’s efforts to achieve energy independence, and convince Lithuania’s citizens, as well as businesses, of the government’s wrongful decisions in relation to long-term energy project development.
Signs of propaganda
According to LK SKD specialists, attempts to manipulate opinions can often be discerned even by people without specialised training.
Often when seeking to shape opinion, the authors rely on unknown sources as an authoritative basis for a statement: “many experts are saying”, “experts have proven multiple times”, “there were many critics from the beginning”, “warnings of experts are manifesting” and so on.
There is also an often-used interpretation that the opinions of different Baltic state officials regarding “Rail Baltica” are presented as discord or conflict. It is said that decisions taken by one country were influenced by the wish to harm their neighbours.
Sometimes such statements look even comical. For example, in one of the articles by “Sputnik Litva”, author Aleksand Nosovič states that “in recent times, statements related to “Rail Baltica” are mostly negative. However, the only source operating in the territory of Lithuania and publishing negative information about “Rail Baltic” is the same “Sputnik”.
“Rail Baltica” – an exceptional regional project
“Rail Baltica” is the biggest infrastructure project in the Baltic region in the last decade. Modern high speed “Rail Baltica” connection will provide a comfortable, safe and environmentally friendly alternative for passengers. At the same time, the rail line will connect Helsinki, Talin, Pern, Riga, Panevežys, Kaunas, Vilnius, and Warsaw. When the rail line is complete, it will be used by modern, contemporary electric trains.
At the moment, most active work is taking place at the Kaunas railway junction. The aim is to have European gauge trains going to Kaunas intermodal terminal in 2021.
So far, in the tunnel itself and close to its entrances, there have been around 2 kilometres of 1435/1520 mm gauge track laid, 3.6 kilometres of existing 1520mm gauge railway reconstructed and, most importantly, work has begun towards laying 1435 mm gauge track between the Kaunas railway tunnel and almost finished 1435mm gauge track rail viaduct over the Baršauskas street.
When all of the construction is complete, Kaunas railway junction will be one of the most modern railway junctions that will see larger part of all the traffic using “Rail Baltica”.
