Quick personal take on Russian propaganda at times of war
The ongoing war in Ukraine and some of the Russian propaganda I heard, inspired me to write on the subject. 1 year of unprovoked, unjustified attacks on innocent people of Ukraine.
Over my many years of international career and travel, I was asked questions about my home country — Lithuania. As you may know, it was brutally occupied by Russia in the past. Many were murdered in the country and many taken to die to Siberia by train. My family members are direct victims of Russian aggression, ongoing for generations, more on that later.
While abroad, sometimes I was asked several typical questions. Do we / Lithuanians speak Russian, are we Russian?
No, we are not Russian. In fact, we are not even of Slavic origin. We are Balts. While there are people of different nationalities and religions living in Lithuania, our religion is Christian Catholic. Language — Lithuanian. If you speak Italian or Latin, you will notice similarities — tomato in Lithuanian is “pomidoras” and Italian — “pomodoro”. While there are people who learned Russian during the times of occupation, young people are European, speak fluent English. I do not speak Russian, their language and culture are very foreign to me.
What are our relations with Russia?
I can answer that from my point of view. While I feel safe in the EU and NATO, I understand that the country, who attacks other countries for whatever reasons, killing thousands of civilians, can attack the Baltic states again. Personally, I would like Russia to apologize for many years of attacks on my country and mass murders. My family was involved in anti-russian acts, meaning — being Christians, which was banned and considered as a dangerous cult; take a look at some of the dangerous books my family kept and hid — the smoking gun. Priests and simple people were getting jailed for this.
So dangerous.
Freedom of speech and self expression.
Next to religious beliefs, freedom of speech and self expression were suppressed. Christianity was being considered a dangerous cult, certain outfits meant promiscuous behavior, some western books — from romance to fantasy — were banned as inappropriate and so on.
My family members were involved in military, Lithuanian resistance and church / religious matters.
Long story short, family members were murdered, others — saved their lives by going abroad. They were actively fighting the aggression and some went as far as infiltrating, sabotaging brutal Siberia train operation from the inside. One of Russia’s propaganda subjects — the land is theirs, we were all a one happy russian family once. How can you be a friend with your son’s killer? With your home thief, family killer?
So, their stories could not be further from reality — they are committed to attacking us and we are committed to defend. They arrive to kill, steal and destroy. Lithuanian noble, royal families lost their homes — castles, manors — they were robbed, heritage destroyed, manors converted into disgusting communist propaganda schools and so on.
My grandparents and great grandparents told many stories of Russia’s aggression. My great grandfather, due to his bloodline, was arrested in Lithuania, taken by force and jailed in Moscow — no charges or crimes were needed for that brutal regime.
My grandmother, hence, us too, should not be alive. She’s alive due to a miracle. They were hiding — meaning burning documents, to not be identified as of Semeta (Lt. Šemeta) origin. Unfortunately, they were betrayed and soldiers came to get them onto the train to Siberia. My grandmothers’ bother, a child, was taken and killed. My grandmother is the survivor, who, as a child, miraculously ran away; they wanted family’s kids dead — the last of us, targets of attacks and revenge.
So, “warmest greetings”, child killers.
This article is especially dedicated to those, who still find reasons to justify Russia’s aggression, help them avoid sanctions, help them re-write history or collaborate. This is terrorism. We will never forget, never forgive.
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