Lithuanians have been handed manuals telling them what to do in the event of a Russian invasion, it has emerged. The 75-page booklet, called ‘Prepare to survive emergencies and war’, urges citizens to ‘have the will to resist’ if Vladimir Putin’s forces attack.
Extensive guides range from how to recognise Russian tanks to step-by-step survival tricks, including using condoms to help transport food and water.
It comes weeks after Russia deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles into its Kaliningrad outpost that borders the country and Poland – both NATO members.
Plans to send troops and equipment to Baltic nations were agreed by NATO leaders in July and starting in February, Germany will send up to 600 soldiers and battle tanks to Lithuania.
But despite the military reassurance, Lithuanians remain wary of the threat posed by its superpower neighbour, Crimea having been annexed by Russia two years ago.
Some 30,000 guides have been distributed around the country telling its 3million residents that ‘attention needs to be paid to the actions of the neighbouring country – Russia’, CNN reports.
Pictures in the guide show survival kits, advice on how to keep warm outdoors and information on how to use a compass and map.
There are also extensive pictures and details on Russian tanks, guns, mines, bullets, grenades and rockets.
Lithuanians are also told how they should spy on Russian forces in the event of an occupation.
The guide adds: ‘It is most important that the civilians are aware and have a will to resist – when these elements are strong, an aggressor has difficulties in creating an environment for military invasion.’
It comes amid heightened tensions in the region and as Russia moved battleships towards the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas, shifted nuclear-capable missile-launchers into its Kaliningrad enclave neighbouring Poland and continued flying bombers down the western European coast.
NATO allies are advancing with plans to deploy thousands of troops and military equipment to the Baltics and Poland.
The plans to send troops and equipment into Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland were agreed by NATO leaders in July.
But Alliance defence ministers, ending two days of talks in Brussels on Thursday, have been fleshing out the contributions that will be stationed near Russia’s borders.
‘We are responding in a measured and responsible way because we are not seeking a new Cold War. We want to keep tensions as low as possible,’ NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.
A day earlier, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that the U.S. will boost its presence in Europe with a brigade – usually some 1,500-3,000 troops – being deployed to Poland in February, among other contributions.
The brigade will take part in military exercises there and send units from the force to Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic States.
Britain is to send typhoon fighter jets to the Black Sea area, while a battalion of troops, tanks and light armour will deploy in Estonia in the spring, backed by French and Danish troops. Starting in February, Germany will send 400 to 600 soldiers and battle tanks to Lithuania.
Albania, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovenia are also playing roles in what NATO has dubbed its Enhanced Forward Presence.
The force is meant to reassure Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland that all 28 NATO allies will defend them in case of attack.
As Russian fighters have buzzed Alliance planes and ships, and its troops have launched snap exercises – one such lot of unannounced war games was used as a pretext for troops to enter Ukraine, Stoltenberg said – little dialogue has taken place between Moscow and the world’s biggest military alliance.
Their main forum for airing disagreements – the NATO-Russia Council – has only met twice this year. Indeed the allies do not seem to share a common vision of what Russia is trying to tell them or how to respond.
On Wednesday, Spain came under pressure for offering to resupply a flotilla of Russian warships suspected to be bound for the eastern Mediterranean to help ramp up Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes.
Malta was thought to be another possible stopover, but it announced Thursday that the vessels could not resupply there either. Greece was thought to be another possibility.
‘What we are observing is Russian military practice that diverges widely from NATO practice in scale, scope, content, purpose, and transparency,’ NATO’s top military commander, U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, told the ministers.
‘We need to be strategic and coherent in our approach to defending our citizens. Now is the time for the Alliance to remain strong,’ he said.
Daily Mail
UM– USEKE.RW
