Russia uses pseudo-history as a tool to pressure neighboring countries - Center for Countering Disinformation
Kyiv • UNN
Russia continues a large-scale campaign to falsify historical memory, using pseudo-historical "research" for informational influence on neighboring states. In particular, in 2025, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations published a 400-page "History of Lithuania" with a preface by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Russia continues a large-scale campaign to falsify historical memory, using pseudo-historical "research" for informational influence on neighboring states. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation with reference to EUvsDisinfo analysts, writes UNN.
Details
In particular, in 2025, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations published a 400-page "History of Lithuania" with a foreword by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The publication is presented as an academic work, but in fact it is a product of Kremlin propaganda aimed at undermining Lithuanian statehood and justifying Moscow's aggressive policy.
The book silences the crimes of the Soviet regime, claims that Lithuania "was never independent," and its occupation by the USSR is presented as "beneficial." The restoration of independence in 1991 is called "undemocratic," and current Lithuanian politicians are portrayed as "Russophobic radicals."
This publication is part of a series. Earlier, the same institute published a "History of Ukraine" with similar falsifications, which formed the basis of Putin's narrative about "historical unity" and were used by the Kremlin to justify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The main author of both books is Maxim Grigoriev - not a historian by profession, but an active participant in Kremlin information operations against Ukraine.