According to Nikolaychuk, NATO has created a new propaganda weapon based on rhetoric that is no longer relevant even in the Baltic countries.
"The issue of the Forest Brothers is not anymore debated even in the Baltic countries, this issue is absolutely irrelevant now. Local elites are practically not discussing this subject, the most active period was 10 to 15 years ago. The initiative is not coming from the Baltic countries. NATO just has some sort of crazy tendency to defend the Baltic flank against alleged Russian aggression," Nikolaychuk said.
"NATO says that it is necessary to actively strengthen security on this flank, conduct military exercises there, deploy troops on a permanent basis, increase their number and shout on every corner about ‘Russian aggression.' I think this is the only reason why the issue has been raised again. The reaction of the Russian Foreign Ministry to this topic is correct, because NATO is saber-rattling with information weapons and charging new propaganda cannons," the expert said.
Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized NATO's new film. In her reaction, Zakharova called on the international community to properly assess "NATO's disgusting action." She added that such steps intend to undermine the results of the Nuremberg war crimes trial.
"I remember that a half year ago the world community, including the mainstream media, was discussing whether it could be allowed to stage a dance on the topic of the Holocaust. I hope that the same people, who claim that they are not indifferent to careful approach to tragic pages of the history, would assess NATO's disgusting action. I hope there is no need to remind about the massive slaughters, in which those, who later called themselves Forest Brothers, were involved," Zakharova said on Facebook.
This is the story of the Forest Brothers who fought the Soviet army for their homelands after WWII pic.twitter.com/4JcfuJPmeO
— NATO (@NATO) 11 июля 2017 г.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin also strongly condemned the video about anti-Soviet resistance in the Baltic States after World War II, noting that the attempt to glorify people who served in Nazi battalions during the war and killed Soviet soldiers was absolutely "brazen."
"When I worked as [Russia's] permanent representative to NATO, you did not dare to do such things. You have become completely brazen now," Rogozin said on his Twitter account. "The NATO's film about ‘the Forest Brothers,' killing our soldiers, proves that we witness NATO as successors of Hitler's remnants," he continued.
Когда я работал постпредом при НАТО, вы себе такого не позволяли. Сейчас окончательно обнаглели. "Псы войны" решили сбросить козьи морды? https://t.co/J1vLvMM5uO
— Дмитрий Рогозин (@Rogozin) 13 июля 2017 г.
Ролик @NATO про "лесных братьев", убивающих наших солдат, подтверждает, что в лице НАТО мы имеем дело с наследниками гитлеровских недобитков https://t.co/jbZddWA0J7
— Дмитрий Рогозин (@Rogozin) 13 июля 2017 г.
According to the deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Victor Vodolatsky, the "fascist ideology" is starting to dominate the political landscape in the NATO countries.
"Today NATO is on the side of criminals, fascists. This is a very sad signal for the entire world community," the politician said according to Lenta.ru.
The so-called Forest Brothers actively fought against the Soviet government after the Second World War on the territory of the current Baltic States. Many of them previously served in the Nazi ranks.
