Šakalienė warns Russia may test scenario killing NATO citizen

Russia is expanding the boundaries of its incidents and provocations and could test scenarios in which a citizen of a NATO country is killed, former Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said, LRT reported.

The remarks followed Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas’s statement that Russia was considering possible provocations in the Baltic region, including so-called false flag operations. The Ministry of Defence said the statement was intended to signal to the Kremlin that Lithuania was aware of such plans.

Military expert Darius Antanaitis told LRT Radio’s LRT Aktualijų studija programme that the information was not new. Lithuania’s presidential office had warned about the possibility of a false flag operation in July, while Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski had also discussed similar threats.

“What has changed is that, as a state, we allocated additional capabilities to protect strategic facilities. Lithuanian military units and soldiers were deployed,” Antanaitis said.

He said the authorities had acted responsibly by informing the public and taking measures in response to the information. He added that officials faced criticism whether they remained silent or issued a public warning.

Election strategist Laurynas Filipavičius, who had previously described Kaunas’s statement on social media as a public relations campaign, said the public should be clearly informed about potential threats. However, he argued that the minister’s chosen format had been inappropriate.

“Frankly speaking, it was an unsuccessful public relations stunt driven by a personal ambition to shine, make an impression, build political strength and collect political dividends,” Filipavičius said.

He also criticised what he described as inconsistent communication by state institutions and government representatives. According to Filipavičius, differing statements from the prime minister and the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence created confusion and made the public feel that politicians were not acting.

Filipavičius noted that officials in Latvia, Poland and the United States had already warned about Russia’s planned hybrid attacks. He questioned what the Lithuanian minister’s statements were intended to achieve, saying that a warning about a major threat should be followed by clear government action.

Šakalienė says Russia is targeting NATO

Šakalienė, now a Social Democratic member of the Seimas, acknowledged that the situation could have been communicated more effectively. She stressed, however, that Russia’s recent actions showed that the country was increasingly broadening the scope of its incidents and provocations.

According to Šakalienė, Russia is not targeting Lithuania specifically but NATO as an alliance. She said the region was approaching an incident in which a NATO citizen could be killed.