“My observation is that those who are now shouting that the Baltics will be attacked are the same ones who said that Ukraine would not be attacked…” said Jānis Sārts on the TV24 programme Dienas personība ar Veltu Puriņu. He also advises carefully assessing information and following it closely.
“Looking at what and how Russia is acting in Ukraine, and what their plans were regarding the elite at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, I do not think that Mr Normunds Mežviets is exaggerating very much,” Sārts noted, commenting on remarks recently made in an interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph.
“If the Russians come here for the third time, it will not only be the end of our statehood, of Latvia as a state, of our sovereignty, it will also be the end of Latvian ethnic identity… they will kill us all,” Mežviets said to the newspaper.
Sārts said: “First of all, it was a British newspaper, and that is a different audience, although we know that nowadays, if something is said to one audience, another will hear it as well. The essence was that we are aware of our risks and are therefore acting. Of course, this is also a vivid epithet, but speaking in terms of probability theory, looking at what and how Russia is acting in Ukraine and what their plans were regarding the elite at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, I do not think that Mr Mežviets is exaggerating very much.”
Sārts understands the public’s concern and outrage over what Mežviets said,
but believes that people should always say what they think and how they see things, so that the shock is not even greater later on.
“These are the possibilities we are facing and, of course, we must do everything so that this does not happen, but these are the realities.”
Jānis Sārts also calls on people to carefully evaluate information presented in different media outlets across countries and, to understand who is an expert and who is not, he suggests looking at what these individuals said in January 2022. “Whether they said that there would be a Russian attack on Ukraine or not. My observation is that those who are now shouting that the Baltics will be attacked are the same ones who said that Ukraine would not be attacked. Meanwhile, those who said that Ukraine would be attacked are the ones who are now silent. Therefore, it is very important to follow information closely,” said the Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence.
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