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In February, the flow of disinformation about Lithuania’s position in relation to the Astrava nuclear power plant more than doubled due to the aforementioned news, and the audience for contacts increased accordingly. According to DebunkEU.org and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of 739 articles examined, 304 (41.1%) were found to be misleading, compared to 29.9% in January. (Articles 127 of 425).
Data from DebunkEU.org / Article dynamics on Lithuania’s position on the Astrava nuclear power plant by type of information
“In February, we clearly saw that defending the Astrava project is not the only goal of the Kremlin-controlled media, perhaps even more important, to try to discredit the Lithuanian government and its decisions in all circumstances. This is shown in the 180 degree turn mentioned above, ”says Algirdas Kazlauskas, chief analyst at DebunkEU.org.
The analysis showed that in February there was an increase in reports of the irrational disconnection of Lithuania and other Baltic countries from the BRELL network. “The increase in the number of articles on this topic may be related to the decision of the Lithuanian government not to delay the withdrawal of the BRELL project and to start the systematic implementation of this plan,” says A. Kazlauskas.
According to a study by DebunkEU.org and the Foreign Ministry, in February pro-Kremlin media tried to emphasize that the desire of Lithuania and other Baltic states to join the Western energy grid was contrary to economic interests and well-being. . of ordinary consumers. “To reinforce these messages, various false statements have been circulated about allegedly burgeoning corruption in projects with the West. Particular emphasis was placed on Sweden’s allegedly negative role in connecting the Baltic states to their will through electrical connections.
In February, the Kremlin-controlled media continued to distribute popular narratives about the narrative opposition of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to the Astrava nuclear power plant and the seeding panic, the alleged deepening division of the Baltic states and the interference. of Lithuania in the internal affairs of Belarus.
“During the investigation, we noted that, compared to the beginning of the year, new messages appeared in February, for example, that the United States is behind Lithuania’s resistance to the Astavas nuclear power plant, or that Lithuania would not be able to evacuate residents from Vilnius in the event of the Astrave accident, “A.Kazlauskas.
Data from DebunEU.org / Distribution of key messages according to the potential contact audience reached
In February, two waves of misinformation about Lithuania’s position on the Astrava nuclear power plant were detected in the pro-Kremlin media. The first (from 3 to 4 February) was due to a statement by the Belarusian Ministry of Energy denying Lithuania’s recognition that the country still consumes electricity produced by the Astrava nuclear power plant. “The official statement proposed to consult the Litgrid website, where it is written that the amount of commercial electricity flow from Belarus to Lithuania is zero,” A. Kazlauskas quoted the official report.
Data from DebunkEU.org / Key Message Dynamics by Number of Articles
The flow of disinformation intensified again on February 11, when the European Parliament issued a resolution calling for the suspension of the Astrava nuclear power plant until all international safety recommendations have been implemented.
“The Belarusian Energy Ministry, for its part, called the document a political action and stressed that it had apparently been adopted without waiting for a preliminary report from the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG),” said an analyst at DebunkEU. org.
Data from DebunkEU.org / Dynamics of key messages according to the potential contact audience reached
It should be noted that before the EP resolution was issued, the visit of ENSREG experts was widely covered by the pro-Kremlin media. According to A. Kazlauskas, the articles emphasize that Belarus is very willing to cooperate and answer all questions from experts.
However, no mention was made of the fact that this visit should have taken place much earlier and that the Belarusian side delayed it. In general, the experts ‘visit was used as an argument to criticize the aforementioned EP resolution condemning the closure and Belarus’ reluctance to comply with security requirements, ”says the expert.
DebunkEU.org duom./Astravo AE disinfo Sources by audience reached
2021 From February 1 to 28, sputniknews.ru, sputniknews.lt and rubaltic.ru published the most false and misleading articles about Lithuania’s position on the Astrava nuclear power plant. The portal slow.ru, rbc.ru and ria.ru reached the largest audience.
Data from DebunkEU.org / Astravo AE disinfo Sources according to published articles
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