"RIA Novosti" published an article about Lithuania also awaiting a "special military operation." It then deleted it

"RIA Novosti" published an article stating that Lithuania also awaits a "special military operation," then deleted it

The "RIA Novosti" news agency published a piece titled "Another special military operation awaits Russia. It will last a very short time," in which it threatened Lithuania with a nuclear strike.

The article was written by the agency's freelance contributor Aleksandr Nosovich. He prepared this text in response to the Lithuanian parliament's decision to support waiving the ban on deploying nuclear weapons in the country. A few hours later, the material was removed from "RIA Novosti" because it was found to "not correspond to the editorial opinion, editorial policy, and the state policy of the Russian Federation." Nevertheless, a copy of the article has been preserved in the web archive.

In his deleted article, Nosovich wrote that European countries continue to actively raise the issue of deploying non-conventional weapons near Russia's borders and have chosen a country that has agreed to become a nuclear weapons depot.

The author, among other things, called Lithuania a brainless, self-destructive state, Russia's small but proud kamikaze in the near abroad. He compared Lithuania to Ukraine and threatened the country with invasion and a nuclear strike.

"It is a question of what means can be used. Since our opponents were the first to bring up the nuclear threat, Russia might even refrain from sending in ground troops. For this, missiles equipped with the appropriate warhead would suffice. The decision will be made not just quickly, but lightning-fast," the article says.

Nosovich is a member of the non-governmental organization "Council on Foreign and Defense Policy" and the editor-in-chief of the Kaliningrad-based publication "RuBaltic.Ru." In 2020, the "Dossier" investigative center linked Nosovich to an influence network controlled by the Russian Presidential Administration and Foreign Intelligence Service officers.

This is not the first threat directed against Lithuania from Russia. On September 12, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, threatened to wipe Lithuania off the world map. Lithuania intends to lift the ban on deploying nuclear weapons on its territory. Medvedev's statement came following these reports. He said that if Russia strikes Lithuania, its NATO allies would not put into practice the fifth article on collective defense of the alliance's charter.