Munich - Russia was behind a false report
of a rape by German soldiers in Lithuania that was intended to
undermine support for NATO's new eastern force, a senior NATO
general said on Saturday, warning Europe to expect more such
"fake news".
Petr Pavel, who heads NATO's military committee, said he
also hoped to hold the first telephone call in more than two
years with Russia's military chiefs in coming weeks. There he
will outline why NATO believes its biggest military build-up
since the end of the Cold War is not a threat to the Kremlin.
Pavel, a Czech army general, said a claim that
German-speaking men raped a 15-year-old girl last week in a
Lithuanian town close to a German army barracks "was not based
on real events". An email making the claim was sent
to the speaker of Lithuanian's parliament on Tuesday.
"It is clearly fake news and I believe we should expect more
of this," Pavel, told Reuters in an interview, citing
conversations with the German and Lithuanian defence ministers.
"Russia is not pleased by the deployment of NATO troops
closer to its border so it will likely use legal means, such as
propaganda and they will try to influence public opinion against
the deployments," Pavel said.
"It will get stronger ... but we will be transparent,
consistent."
Russia has not responded to NATO's assertion that it was
behind the email to the Lithuanian parliament, as evidence for
which Pavel cited NATO intelligence work that monitors
suspicious activity and disinformation.
European intelligence agencies have said Moscow is also
seeking to destabilize governments and influence elections with
cyber attacks and fake news.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday she would
like to discuss the issue with Russia, but it was questionable
whether the problem could be successfully addressed before
European elections this year.
Last week Russia denied meddling in campaigning for April
and May's presidential election in France.
"Potential splillover"
Worried since Russia's 2014 seizure of Ukraine's Crimea that
Moscow could invade Poland or the Baltic states, NATO is
bolstering its eastern flank with troops, war games and
warehoused US equipment ready for a rapid response force of up
to 40 000 personnel.
The first German troops have arrived in Lithuania, where
Berlin is leading a battalion of some 1 000 troops. From around
April, Britain will head the deterrent force in Estonia, while
Canada is deploying in Latvia and US troops are arriving in
Poland and across the Baltics.
Russia says the alliance build-up threatens the stability of
central Europe. It has some 330 000 troops amassed in its
Western military district around Moscow, NATO believes.
Pavel said the Western military alliance NATO has ways,
known in military parlance as strategic communication, to
counter Russian disinformation and he did not expect Moscow to
be able to generate popular protests against the deployments.
"The population in these countries are rightly afraid of a
continuation of these events, a potential spillover into their
countries. They have been asking for years for some kind of
visible reassurance," Pavel said, referring to Crimea.
NATO will also reassure Moscow directly that the eastern
deterrent is a measured response to Crimea and what NATO says is
Russia's direct support for rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Pavel said contact between NATO's top commanders and their
Russian counterparts could restart in the next few weeks with a
telephone call with the chief of the Russian General Staff
Valery Gerasimov.
Pavel said that could follow with a face-to-face meeting.
US General Joseph Dunford, the top US military officer,
met Gerasimov in Azerbaijan this week.
US Vice President Mike Pence sought on Saturday to assure
Europe that Washington would back NATO, but told allies they
must pay their fair share to support the alliance.