Gateway to Lithuania. We are (not) waiting for it

National defence starts in the minds of citizens, in their ability to recognise the enemy. This is the first line of defence, the first trenches we must dig in our minds. Propaganda has already affected even Lithuanians who actively support Ukraine, because there are those who still do not recognise the Kremlin's manipulations, and the „swan lake“ is still an innocent art to them. Many have forgotten that during the events of January 1991, that very piece was broadcast on Lithuanian television by the jedinstvinists who took it over.

It seems that intelligent people start talking like Moscow propagandists as soon as they talk about Russian culture. All the post-Soviet thinking comes out, and they start explaining in a raised voice that there is no need to mix culture and politics. They call the fight against the Kiltür and other soft influences from Russia a fight against the Russians or even against the Russian-speaking Ukrainians.

Therefore, I am not surprised that the fifth column in Klaipėda is raising its head that even 20 percent of people are waiting for Putin (although from what I see and hear, it could be over 50 percent).What my friends and I are talking and writing about is only important to a very small audience, and the opponents' preponderance is huge, and so is the dissemination. Russian is freely and widely spoken on the streets and in shops.

Russian-speaking Ukrainians are to blame, you say? Yes, perhaps, perhaps there are some among them who were waiting for Putin and are now waiting for him here in Lithuania. And then there are the refugees or economic migrants, whose offspring have been added to the Russian-speaking schools and kindergartens, while their leader has not learned Lithuanian in the three years she has lived in Lithuania. I understand that her priorities are to travel to Western countries, but it is a politician's duty to encourage her compatriots to follow her personal example. Especially since it is clear to everyone today that the Belarusian opposition has lost, and that its current leader will be replaced by another or others in due course, and that many of the Hungarians will remain here in Lithuania.

I contacted Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya's adviser Franek Viachorkas to ask for support for the reform of Russian schools, and he listened and responded: he stopped returning my calls. I have always supported their opposition, not by putting a frame on it, but by real action. I understand that they may not like my critical approach on some issues, but this is a democracy and they have to learn it. I am still learning myself.

We have been fighting an evil empire for 350 years, and so have our brothers-in-arms the Ukrainians. Unfortunately, the people of the Goths have already lost the fight against the Russian Reich, especially in their own minds.

I would like to end with a quote from the Ukrainian musician Ivan Lenjo:

„Life has a way of working out that sooner or later you have to pay the price: either with money, or with your health, or with your reputation, or with your life.

At every concert, and there have been 227 of them during this period of war, I make a small survey, for example, I ask the audience: who among you voted for Yanukovych, who among you listens to Russian music, who among you is ready to live under occupation?

The result is impressive - nothing. Not a single hand stood up. Either they are ashamed to admit it, or only conscious people (we want to believe) attend our concerts.

But here's another statistic for you - the picture. And this at a time when Russian planes are bombing our towns and villages every night.