Letter to the editor: Lithuania isn’t being weakened by Russia

The Russian drone strike that injured two people in a Romanian apartment last month should hardly have come as a surprise to most of Eastern Europe.

It was the latest of at least 150 hybrid warfare attacks against NATO countries in the past year, according to Eurasia Review.

Hybrid warfare tactics often demand responses with resources that could have gone to Ukraine. They also destabilize and stir up the populations of neighboring countries.

But one of those countries has gotten stronger for them.

I spoke to a member of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union (LRU) who, asking to go by “L” for anonymity, told me, “By trying to poke us with hybrid ops, they have made Lithuania so much stronger.”

Lithuania was occupied by the former Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941 and again from 1944 until 1990. According to L, no one has forgotten. “Regardless of generation, everyone’s family has been persecuted by the Soviets, and we all are conscious of the Russian threat,” he said.

He then listed several recent hybrid Russian attacks on Lithuanian soil, including package bombs, the defacing of an anti-Soviet icon’s statue, arson, disinformation campaigns and aerial drones.

But these incidents have seemingly rallied the citizenry and allies alike. Despite America’s decision to withdraw its 12th Cavalry Regiment from Lithuania, L. told me that U.S. Army Captain Zach Lanctot and his unit worked tirelessly, day and night, for several months through joint military exercises with the LRU in preparation for the withdrawal.

L. wasn’t too worried about the U.S. departure, noting that many other NATO allies have troops stationed in Lithuania, including Germany, Great Britain and the Czech Republic.

Combine that with heavy investments in artillery, drone defense systems, armored personnel carriers and CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles — as well as the resolve of an entire nation — and L. believes that Lithuania has become stronger than ever.

“People are learning first aid, survival skills, and most families have an evacuation plan. Russia can defeat an army, but it cannot defeat a country,” he told me.

Russia thrives in psychological warfare, but at least for one Baltic State, that appears to be backfiring.

“In the 20th century, three empires occupied Lithuania,” L said. “Russia choked on us twice. Our job may be to make them choke a third time.”