Paul
Goble
Staunton, March 8 – Moscow trolls
have become much more active in Lithuanian media outlets in recent days, a “cynical”
exploitation of the free media in that country against its own interests and
one that Lithuanians and others must focus on and learn to repel, according to
Monica Garbacauskaite-Bedrene, news editor of the DELFI portal.
This is part of a larger problem,
she told VOA’s Russian Service. A recent poll in Lithuania found that the views
of Lithuanians about Ukraine depended in large measure on whether they relied
on Russian media or on Lithuanian outlets (ru.delfi.lt/news/live/glavred-delfi-rossiya-cinichno-ispolzuet-sredstva-massovoj-informacii.d?id=67375382).
Those who turn to Russian media, Garbacauskaite-Bedrene
said, think Ukraine is to blame for the crisis; those who use Lithuanian media hold
Russia responsible. Unfortunately, she added, Lithuania does not have its own “influential
Russian-language press” and thus the Russian language DELFI portal is especially
popular for its unbiased reporting.
But precisely because of its
influence, Moscow has directed its fire against it, using trolls in social
networks and on new sites which are intended to undermine Russia’s opponents.
She says she and her colleagues have “noted that they are actively working
through the commentaries of readers and this has become for us a real
challenge.”
A year ago, she said, her service
had to remove 700 to 800 of such commentaries; now, it has to remove 2500 to
3000. Because they are the work of trolls, with the same ideas and even the
same words used over and over again to attack, confuse and demoralize
Lithuanians. And with time, these
Russian trolls are becoming more clever and even appearing on Lithuanian language
sites, a shift that makes them harder to identify and thus more dangerous.
Garbacauskaite-Bedrene said that the
underlying purpose of this trolling against Lithuania is to create uncertainty.
“We really do not know what will happen next when Rusia looks not only at the
Baltic but also at the Scandinavian countries” and “cynically uses” the media
in this way to promote its goals.
“We are members of NATO and we count
on NATO and on American support,” she said. “The majority of Lithuanians are
real patriots. Many intelligent young people are now joining militarized
organizations; they want to do something for their country and are ready to
unite for that.”
That provides “additional strength
to our country,” Garbacauskaite-Bedrene said, and it is why Moscow is trying to
undermine that with its trolling operation.
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