Russian authorities launch cultural ‘war’ against Lithuanian community

It is a response to the blockade of goods in transit, imposed by Lithuania. The crackdown began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent EU sanctions. Propaganda against Lithuanians intensifies in the territory: they are accused of subversion and espionage.

Moscow () – An area very sensitive to the events linked to the war in Ukraine is the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, the former Köenigsberg in East Prussia, where the philosopher Immanuel Kant elaborated the principles of the “Critique of Pure Reason”. . Located between Poland and Lithuania, the region is in a desperate situation: Lithuania has prohibited the transit of various products from Russia, and the tension continues to grow. In fact, the issue has become a “culture war”, as weapons cannot be used against a NATO country.

Among the local population there are many citizens of Lithuanian origin, with a significant presence of Catholics. The Russian authorities have decided to retaliate against them and the institutions linked to their culture. At the request of the Russian Ministry of Justice, a court closed down the Association of Teachers of the Lithuanian Language; members of a folk music group were also prevented from performing Lithuanian songs and dances, which are very popular in the region.

The Language Association was ordered closed due to “inconsistencies in the statutory documents”: these date back to 1995 and state that the objective of the association is to unite school teachers, leaders of cultural centers and folk groups in the promotion of Lithuanian traditions, and “strengthen friendly coexistence between the peoples of Russia and Lithuania”. The website of the dissolved organization extols the fact that “our land was the cradle of great representatives of Lithuanian literature and culture, to the point of being called their cradle.”

In the birthplace of the philosopher and humanist Eduard Vidunis, one of the “fathers of Lithuanian culture”, the commemorative stele of the Soviet years was removed, in the city of Sovetsk, on the border with Lithuania. In another border town, in Neman, unknown assailants covered with cellophane another monument to a Lithuanian writer, Martinas Mažvidas, a great reformer of letters and the first to publish books in the Lithuanian language.

In dialogue with journalists from Sever.Realii, the director of the Lithuanian Teachers’ Association, Aleksej Bartnikas, said that he has no intention of appealing the sentence of closure. He doesn’t want to comment on it either, because the group had never wanted to get involved in politics, and today it would be impossible to refrain from taking confrontational stances. The mission of the institution was the organization of events such as the “Olympics” of the Lithuanian language and other initiatives to learn about the history of the region, with excursions and visits to various significant places and festivals of local folklore.

On the other hand, expressions of anti-Lithuanian propaganda are intensifying in the region. The operational director of the “Russian Community of the Kaliningrad Region”, Maksim Makarov, is famous for his long fight against the mythological “Germanization” of local history. From his blog and in various publications, he today spreads accusations against the Bartnikas association for its alleged collaboration with the Lithuanian secret services, obtaining funding for the dissemination of an “anti-Russian ethnoculture” in the area.

According to the accusations, the “subversive” activities of the Lithuanians would have begun as a reaction to the “special military operation” in Ukraine, with the systematic dissemination of false information aimed at discrediting the Russian Armed Forces, the great accusation of the purges of Putin. Makarov adds that the language association also functions as a “propaganda center for LGBT culture,” which the Lithuanian government supports and masks under the guise of folk dances.

Several tens of thousands of Lithuanians live in the Kaliningrad region. Every year there are Lithuanian – and also Polish and German – cultural days and many other events that are also supported by local authorities. Many Russians have moved here to avoid the intense war propaganda, but now it reaches the westernmost borders as well.