The Kremlin, enraged by the gift of the United States to Lithuania, began to instigate a scandal: the first sentence occurred to him

On April 12, the Ministry of National Defense announced that, contributing to the strengthening of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, the United States would deliver the M72LAW anti-tank grenade launcher to the Lithuanian Armed Forces, which would significantly strengthen the Lithuanian Armed Forces. capabilities and combat power.

The latest news was also shocked by the authors of the propaganda portal Baltnews.ru, who misrepresented the facts and tried to present it as a transaction that was useless for Lithuania and allegedly demonstrated corruption.

Even the Baltnews article, which surpassed the most famous Kremlin propaganda spokesperson “Sputnik”, which was signed by the fictitious “Svetlana Kruglova”, not only distorted the facts, but also tried to ridicule both the Lithuanian army and the Minister. of National Defense. . And it’s all based on disposable grenade launchers.

How the gift became a purchase

In early April, M72 LAW combat and training disposable grenade launchers donated by the United States Armed Forces supplemented the armament of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Voluntary Forces (NDVF), thus strengthening the firepower of the NASL. According to the official announcement of the Ministry of National Defense, grenade launchers will be distributed to KASP teams and new infantry units will be provided with new weapons.

The US military not only donated training and combat grenades to the M72 act, but also briefed KASP instructors on how to use the weapon.

The M72 LAW grenades were tested under combat conditions in US and allied operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and during other conflicts. M72 LAW grenade launchers are designed to destroy enemy forces’ armored combat equipment, field engineering fortifications. The weapons obtained are characterized by being comfortable to transport: a soldier can carry a grenade launcher up to 5 kg, ready to fire and fire from various positions.

“We greatly appreciate the support of the United States in strengthening Lithuania’s defense capabilities. We also appreciate the donation of anti-tank grenades, which will contribute significantly to increasing deterrence and security in the Baltic region, as well as strengthening the volunteer forces of Lithuania. the Lithuanian Armed Forces of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.

We are aware of the difficult security situation in which our region finds itself, so we are also investing in our defense, dedicating 2% of GDP, increasing and modernizing our army. We are cooperating closely with the US in purchasing modern equipment (helicopters, armored SUVs) and ammunition (JAVELIN anti-tank missile systems), ”said National Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas in a press release on the transfer. of the M72LAW grenade launchers.

The first and most banal lie of the Baltnews authors about the transfer of this weapon lies in the fact that the authors of the text constantly try to confuse the reader – part of the text says that these grenades are a gift, others try to emphasize that it is is a Lithuanian purchase of $ 10 million. Contrary to the author’s repeated attempts to suggest in her text, Lithuania did not purchase weapons and did not pay US $ 10 million for them. This weapon is a gift from the United States to Lithuania, the total value of which is about US $ 10 million.

Although the text attempts to intertwine the transfer of these grenades and the “golden spoons” scandal in Lithuania in order to promote mistrust of the Lithuanian authorities, these two things have absolutely nothing in common (except that they are related to the defense authorities of the country). and no evidence of alleged corruption of Lithuanian officials in the transfer of this weapon is reported.

However, a lie is masked by another statement: due to the lack of competences, an attempt is being made to sting the Minister of National Defense A. Anušauskas. The essential argument is that the minister is not a military man.

In Western democracies, the minister is a politician, and reserve soldiers hold this position very rarely, except in a few post-communist states. The minister’s long experience as a politician in the field of national security, of course, is not mentioned in the Baltnews article. Like the fact that. A. Anušauskas has been a lieutenant in the Lithuanian Armed Forces since 1995. A. Anušauskas himself alone

The security and defense expert, who spoke with Delfi, dr. According to Egidijus Papečkis, the declared value of $ 10 million is simply a sign of the transparency and accountability of the US military against the Americans.

“The value of the gift includes not only the price of the grenade launchers themselves, but also the transport of training equipment that allows to train soldiers quickly and effectively, improve the skills in firing the training grenade launchers with training ammunition. special.

Americans always include the salary and travel expenses of their instructor-soldiers, who will help Lithuanian soldiers to familiarize themselves with the weapon. “The United States has a strong tradition of paying its taxpayers for defense spending, so all of this spending is not calculated to artificially ‘increase’ the value of transferred weapons, but to provide American taxpayers with accurate and clear information.” , He said.

He taunts the gun that he copied himself

The Baltnews text claims that European defense experts allegedly smiled at the deal (although it is not stated which experts are being talked about), and that Russian experts who scoffed at the arms transfer are being cited and ridiculed, reiterating that Russia supposedly does not pose a threat to the Baltic states.

E. Papečkys takes a different approach. According to him, the M72 LAW is a useful and necessary weapon for the Lithuanian army, which is not used in the armament of another country, but as it is a gift, he is grateful for it.

“This gift, although more accurately called military support for your ally, is very much needed: our potential enemy will have many armored vehicles on the battlefield and it will be very useful for the M72 LAW KASP volunteers to fight him.

The main advantage of the weapon is its low weight and dimensions. A soldier can easily pick up even some of these grenade launchers, and this will not reduce his mobility on the battlefield, but the chances of fighting the enemy will be significantly increased. The weapon is very simple, it can be used even after reading the operational notes of the grenade launcher, but it is understood that it will be much more effective in the hands of a well-trained soldier than in a first-time shooter.

The M72 LAW is designed to destroy specific targets and is a powerful weapon in expert hands. It is also important that due to their simplicity of construction, several different types of disposable grenade launchers can be used in the military. In the future, it is possible to purchase new modifications of the M72 LAW, as soldiers have already been trained and trained to use them, ”said E. Papečkys.

According to him, the short range of the weapon is also not a problem, and similar types of weapons are constantly used in many countries around the world, including Russia itself.

“This grenade launcher was specifically designed for close combat with armored vehicles, for longer ranges there are larger and more expensive weapons that not all soldiers will bring to the battlefield. While the M72 LAW can be owned and used by anybody. soldier, the grenade launcher can be in any vehicle in the event of an unexpected collision with an enemy.

This kind of disposable small grenade launcher is widely used all over the world today, there is a great demand for it. The Russian army itself uses very similar RPG-18 and RPG-22 grenade launchers, which were developed in the Soviet Union, copying the idea of ​​the American M72 LAW. It is true that the Soviets took almost 10 years to copy, “added the interlocutor.

According to the expert, the fact that similar types of weapons are useful and necessary is perfectly illustrated by the military conflicts that have occurred or continue in the region during the last decades.

“Russian and separatist tanks and other armored vehicles have been successfully fought with this type of grenade launcher in Chechnya and Ukraine. The tanks were fired at the same time with several grenade launchers, thus increasing the probability of defeating the jet’s armor.

However, there are cases when the Russian T-72 tank went off the line with a single shot from such a small grenade launcher. However, I will remind you that disposable grenade launchers are not the primary means of fighting tanks, as are anti-tank guided missiles, artillery, and aviation. In addition to tanks, there are many other important targets on today’s battlefield: infantry fighting vehicles (Russian BMP), armored transporters (Russian BTR), field fortifications, fire points in buildings.

Let me remind you that today a potential assailant’s army has the same BMPs and BTRs that were developed to use the M72 ACT, and is still deadly effective. And the potential aggressor’s brigade or rifle regiment will have around 180-200 BMP and BTR on the battlefield, and only 30-40 tanks. So the hostile propaganda speeches about the supposed “ineffectiveness” of the M72 ACT are broken off the finger and, which is gratifying, not without the anxiety of a particle, ”said E. Papečkys.