They, like every fifth or sixth Lithuanian opposing the nuke, may be the result of the hefty anti-power plant, pro-Russia rhetoric churned out by some Russian money-fueled NGOs and media, according to a Lithuanian State Security Department (LSSD) report to be introduced in the Lithuanian Parliament this week.
Foreign intelligence services stay vigilant
Foreign country attempts to instigate ethnic, social and ideological enmity in Lithuania will continue in 2012 along with their endeavors to hamper Lithuania’s strategic energy projects, says the LSSD report.
“The strategists of adverse information to Lithuania, as well as other Baltic States, should be considered the subjects that are shaping foreign policies of a third country, as well as entities related to them - scientific research centers, NGOs and news agencies. Thus, foreign intelligence and security services are getting engaged in the process, as hostile information campaigns are being carried out by some Lithuania-based media outlets, NGOs and movements, whose activities are being coordinated through some foreign countries’ embassies in Lithuania,” the report points out.
It is unanimously agreed that the term “foreign countries,” as well as “third countries,” largely refers to Russia.
According to the Department, a particular threat to Lithuania stems from the obstacles the country faces while in the pursuit of providing natural gas and while implementing the structural reforms of the Lithuanian natural gas sector. It also comes from carrying out the Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant construction and Ignalinas Nuclear Power Plant decommissioning projects.
Disapproval equals state treason
Ahead of the report’s presentation to the parliament, Gintaras Songaila, a radical nationalist MP, has submitted a draft amendment to the Criminal Code, proposing to include into it the term “treason of the state’s energy independence bids” which, according to him, should be on a par with treason and be punishable by up to 12 years of incarceration.
“Though the state has been declaring its bid for energy independence for as long as the independent state has existed, no actual sanctions for officials deliberately hampering the efforts have been set out until now. That is why the core energy independence interests have not been yet ensured,” Songaila emphasized.
Nuke PR campaign money is secret
Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius says he was not surprised by the information stemming from the LSSD report. “We have always felt that there is big interest in impeding the government’s projects aimed at reaching energy independence and energy security. It is important to realize that it is not only our domestic discussion as to what road to take. In it [the discussion] third parties participate, through politics, the media and public organizations,” Kubilius asserted.
He added: “Having approached very important decisions, delaying, postponing or abandoning projects we've already begun would not be a victory for anyone but to those who aim to keep us in energy dependence.”
With the information warfare on the Visaginas NPP project ready to culminate before the crucial vote in the parliament, Kubilius does not elaborate on how much his government has spent for warding off nuclear plant-adverse information. “Visaginas NPP publicity campaign is not that well financed, and we are seeing the results of this: there is a lot more of propaganda in the air than unbiased and rational information. The State Security Department has revealed some numbers to us while informing the government of the report, and the numbers, coming as negative information from third countries, are considerably larger than the amount that Visaginas NPP has allocated for publicizing the project,” Kubilius noted.
Hitachi has no room for mistakes
One of the last, but not least, bouts of the nuclear information warfare was Russian energy official’s remarks suggesting that a Japanese nuclear reactor, to be built in Lithuania, is less safe than the most advanced Russian reactors.
The comparison came from Sergey Boyarkin, program director at Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom. Speaking in a Kaliningrad venue on the energy needs of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, and the entire Baltic Sea region, he expressed his surprise that Japan, which has stopped building single-loop nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, offers them to Lithuania.
Confronted with this, Takuya Hattori, president of the Japan Atomic Industry Forum (JAIF), replied: “It would be absolutely unfair to say that we are exporting technically unsafe technologies. Japan manufactures and exports only technologies of the highest safety level. We are highly interested in success of Hitachi project in Lithuania. Our country cannot afford to make a mistake in this area.”
For Hitachi, he has said, Visaginas project is a gateway to foreign markets and, if successful, could be followed by more orders. Therefore, the Japanese are ready to help Vilnius obtain a significant amount of loans under favorable terms, according to Lrytas.lt.
Social Democrats: “It is utopia”
PM Kubilius expects the State Security Department report will help wavering legislators make up their minds and vote for the VNPP Concession Agreement. Some parliamentarians say they are “baffled” by the report coming out ahead of the crucial vote and suspect the timing may be “deliberate” to influence MPs’ decisions. Some, however, have hinted the report will sway their opinion on the project.
Only the opposition Social Democrats so far have clearly announced that they disapprove of the nuclear project in Visaginas; meanwhile, other parliamentary opposition factions of the Labor Party and Order and Justice, arguing they need more information about the project, have not renounced it.
“The situation may change, but now we do not support the idea of building a nuclear power plant. With the looming possibility of the relapse of crisis, the prospects of Greece’s pullout from the eurozone and considering the condition of our finances, for Lithuania it would be utopia to think it can take on implementation of three large energy projects,” the Social Democrat leader Algirdas Bukevičius said.
