Disinformation

This summer, misinformation that those in power are trying to drag the Baltic countries into a war against Russia intensified, especially in Lithuania and Estonia. Governments are allegedly considering sending troops to Ukraine, in Lithuania the foreign minister and his family are leaving the country, while Latvia is provoking its eastern neighbour with threats of a nuclear war.

If you wish to discredit the EU in the Baltic states, spread green lies and half-truths – for example, that the EU will immediately force everyone to drive electric cars, stop old cars from being repaired and ban heating with firewood.

At the end of April, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Latvia would resume funding to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which provides assistance to Palestinian refugees in various countries.

The MP and candidate for the European Parliament elections Edvīns Šnore (the National Alliance party) made a statement on a TikTok video claiming that thousands of "illegal immigrants" arrive in England by boat every day and that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has forbidden the country to "send them back to Africa". This is not true.

In the middle of the week, claims appeared on social media that under the influence of the Green Deal the government will ban the use of wood, pellets and briquettes for heating private homes. This is not true – there are no such plans. The false claims were spread on the internet by Tālis Linkaits, the former Minister for Transport and now a candidate for the European Parliament from the New Conservative Party (Jaunā konservatīvā partija), and a number of politicians from the Latvia First party (Latvija pirmajā vietā).