Kremlin spokesman greeted US soldiers in Lithuania with clues: strange details

The latest rotation of US troops arrived in Lithuania in early December in the Russian media, and NATO’s Vigilant Leopard exercise in Pabradbra was met with bitter comments, accusations and doubts about the US approach to the dangers in our region.

The latest RT text contains everything from the deployment of US troops in Lithuania to Belarus’s decision to close its borders. The presentation of information, intertwining real facts with distorted data, with a series of false and inauthentic statements and rumors, is not too surprising. But the strange narratives match the aggressive rhetoric of recent months emanating from Moscow and its controlled regime in Minsk.

US Battalion: Support for Lithuanian Defense

RT, formerly known as Russia Today, poked fun at the arrival of the US troops: “US troops, expecting an exotic winter mission to one of their tropical bases abroad, had to be disappointed after landing in icy Lithuania. “.

It is true that winter conditions are not news to American soldiers: last year, the 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment of the US Army 1st Division trained in Lithuania, and its permanent location is at Fort Hoode, Texas.

The US Army Battalion, which has recently arrived in Lithuania, is constantly stationed there. Furthermore, deployment operations are planned at least half a year in advance, making it difficult to find a realistic basis for RT’s claims that US troops did not expect to be in Lithuania.

And the “exotic winter missions to one of its tropical bases abroad” recall more myths and anecdotes. Although the US ground forces have military bases on tropical islands like Hawaii, in this case it is not an overseas base. Among the military bases of land forces abroad located in hot countries, we could only include one base in Nigeria. In the latter, however, heavy military units are not common, and tanks are not deployed there.

The deployment of US troops in Lithuania is not new and is occurring during Operation Atlantic Resolve, in which the United States demonstrates its commitment to collective defense with NATO allies for security in Europe, especially in the east wing of the Alliance after the aggressive actions of Russia in Ukraine. Soldiers from the US Ground Forces have been rotating in the Baltics since spring 2014, and US tanks have been stationed here for several months since 2019.

In mid-December 2020, the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania announced that a new rotation of the US Ground Forces had been deployed in Pabradė: soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Cavalry Regiment According to the report, the heavy US battalion is scheduled to be deployed for exercises in Lithuania for about eight months in late summer.

Our #NATO 🇩🇪🇳🇱🇳🇴allies of #eFPBattleGroupLithuania at #VigilantLeopard exercises in #Pabrade, #Lithuania. The presence of NATO allies plays an important role in the security and deterrence of the #EasternFlank. #StrongTogether #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/lPlwIhFup5

– Lithuanian_armed_forces (@LTU_Army) December 20, 2020

According to defense blogger Giedrius Petkevičius-Sausuolis, the deployment of American troops not only demonstrates the United States’ commitment to the security of Lithuania, but also reinforces the readiness of our own military and combat capabilities.

“Joint exercises help Lithuanian soldiers to conduct military training more effectively and strengthen cooperation between allied forces. In a military sense, the battalion does not seem to be much, but considering the small forces (compared to Russia’s), the appearance of about 60 armored fighting vehicles is a big boost, ”said G. Petkevičius.

According to him, it is generally estimated that 3 times more military capabilities need to be mobilized to carry out offensive operations. It is possible to carry out braking actions even in the face of an enemy 6 times more abundant, so the deployment of a heavy American battalion only of a potential aggressor would require the use of much more military capabilities than usual.

Stuck in the military gear color

American soldiers who arrived in Lithuania from their permanent location in the state of Texas also brought their weapons, including heavy equipment: Abrams tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. It is this last technique, or more precisely its camouflage, that has become the goal of Russia Today.

According to the authors of the RT text, not all Lithuanians see the deployment of US troops as a protection against real threats. To substantiate this claim, we use a quote from an anonymous social media author, who says, “Why do you use desert camouflage in our forests? Judging from their team, it is clear that they are not expecting real military action. “

We can also find it interesting that the “social media” commenter is not named in any way, there is no evidence that such a message existed on social media at all. Even if such a message existed, the arrival of American troops with the desert printing technique is not necessarily a real problem. According to G. Petkevičius, the masking properties can be easily improved if necessary.

“It’s the ABCs of military skills, and the American cavalry is well versed in adapting to our conditions. The same goes for technique. For the cloudy Lithuanian autumn-winter background, the technique painted in the color of the desert is easily masked by nets, rags and greenery. After all, the essence of military capabilities does not lie in color. As with the uniform, it is not the color that matters, but the infrared trace. By the way, it should be noted that in 2017, the US forces deployed in Germany began to paint their combat gear with a green forest camouflage that corresponds to the realities of Central and Eastern Europe, ”the blogger told Delfi.

State border or line of demarcation?

The fact that the propaganda article focuses on US forces is not the only odd cliché. Soldiers from the NATO front forces deployed to Lithuania, whose core consisted of Dutch, Norwegian and German heavy teams and their crews, participated in the defense exercise “Vigilant Leopard” and improved all military skills in Pabradė – From preparation to combat shooting, including logistics and supply tasks.

The images of the exercise are accompanied by a typical leitmotif of “rising military tension” in the article, which is related to the fact that the exercise takes place at the Pabradė training ground, which is located right next to the border with Belarus.
According to RT, the main reproach to the organizers of the exercise is the distance between General Silvestras Žukauskas’s training ground and the Belarusian border. The exercise at the training ground, which is just 8 kilometers from the border with Belarus, is said to increase military tensions in the region.

The article also features Pool of the First A message was posted on the account’s Twitter social network expressing concern about the exercise, which is taking place only “a few kilometers from the Belarusian border.” In fact, from the Pabradė landfill to the border, about 15 km.

The Leopard-2 battle tanks (various modifications) of the Armed Forces of Germany, Norway and the Netherlands of the NATO battle group “Vigilant Leopard” conducted joint exercises in Lithuania … a few kilometers from the Belarusian border. pic.twitter.com/r7SzKU6UvL

– Pool of the First (@pulpervogo) December 20, 2020

In addition, according to the portal meduza.io, Belarusian spokeswoman Natalia Eismont runs the Telegram channel of the same name on the popular social network in the Russian-speaking space. From this Twitter account, you can easily access an Instagram account of the same name, where you will also find a link to the aforementioned Telegram channel.

And while RT, like Lukashenko, complains about the “aggressive” behavior of NATO, it is the Lukashenko regime that forgets some simple facts.

From the Pabradė landfill to the closest settlement in Belarus – 20 kilometers, from the Hoža landfill in Belarus to the closest settlement in Lithuania – 12 kilometers. It was at the last training camp, under tension in Minsk and other cities in the country, that in August Aliaksandr Lukashenko organized a large-scale military exercise to demonstrate his military muscles to Lithuania and the West. Unlike the exercise at Pabradė, that exercise was not planned.

The strange and aggressive behavior of the Lukashenko regime in the autumn, when Lithuania is openly accused of inciting provocations and Poland of the alleged attempt to raise territorial claims and take back Grodno, also appears in the latest RT article.

The authors of the text name the Lithuanian-Belarusian border especially strangely, calling it the line of demarcation. Normally, the demarcation line separates the armies from the warring states during the ceasefire until a permanent border is established. At present, Lithuania and Belarus not only do not fight, but also comply with the agreement between Lithuania and Belarus on the state border, which was adopted in 1995.