Lithuania
ENLithuania was the first Soviet republic to declare the re-establishment of its independence on March 11, 1990. Sometimes Russian media refer to this fact, claiming that Lithuania (and the other Baltic States) ‘destroyed the Soviet Union’. The national diasporas in Lithuania are quite small. Unlike in Latvia and Estonia, Russians (5.8 %, or 176 900 people)[ 1 ] are not the largest minority group in Lithuania, and are outranked by Poles (6.6 %, or 200 300 people). Other national diasporas in Lithuania include Belarusians (1.2 %, or 36 200), Ukrainians (0.5 %, or 1 400) and Jews (0.1 %, or 3 000). Unlike in Latvia or Estonia, almost all Lithuanian residents were given the right to acquire citizenship after the Soviet Union collapsed. Nearly 90 % of members of the national diasporas[ 2 ] chose to do so. Lithuania has seen one of the EU’s sharpest population decreases. By 2011, the census indicated that the population had decreased to 3 million from 3.6 million in 1989.[ 3 ] The size of the national diasporas has also changed considerably since then. In 1989, the share of ethnic Russians stood at 9.4 %, while Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians and Jews accounted for 7 %, 1.7 %, 1.2 % and 0.3 % of the population, respectively. There are some regions in which ethnic minorities are concentrated. These include the Salcininkai and Vilnius districts with a sizable Polish minority, and the city of Visaginas (Russians).The main challenges confronting Lithuania in the field of information security are: The Kremlin’s disinformation and information influence campaigns. Russia is trying to spread its propaganda narratives in Lithuanian information space. Cyberattacks can be used with intent to destroy information channels (e. g. via DDoS attacks), or to intervene in information systems and the activity of trolls. In April 2017, a cyberattack used for the purpose of spreading fake news in Lithuania was detected. Furthermore, experts point to a number of domestic challenges to Lithuania’s information security: Unsustainable media landscape. Most media channels are dependent on some groups of interests or business within Lithuania’s small media market. This could negatively affect professional standards of mass media. Insufficient media literacy among Lithuanian society. The Lithuanian authorities’ insufficient attention to the problems facing national minorities.
