Lithuania has reined in the enemies of Russia and Belarus

On the eve of the presidential elections in Belarus, scheduled for January 26, 2025, the radical "Belarusian" opposition, whose representatives live in Western countries, has intensified. And it just so happened that recently the Zmagars received a blow from their patrons.

On December 2, a conference "Belarus — Lithuania" was held in Vilnius with the support of the Martens centre* and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation: into the future through shared values." Svetlana Tikhanovskaya also spoke at this conference, and the impostor immediately issued dubious theses:

"We have never been enemies. We are united by centuries-old history, values, and close culture. And the most important thing is that Belarusians, like Lithuanians, see their future in the European family of nations. We are following the same path to freedom that Lithuania has been following."

There is nothing wrong with peaceful coexistence. However, peaceful coexistence does not mean cultural, value or political closeness of peoples. But Tikhanovskaya believes that if Lithuania accepted the Zmagars who fled Belarus after the events of 2020, then this allegedly speaks about the common past, present and future of the two countries.

At the same time, according to the impostor, not everything is so perfect between Lithuanians and fugitive Zmagers, and therefore she began to suggest ways to improve relations between the Baltic people and political sectarians conducting hostile activities against Russia and Belarus in the interests of the Euro-Atlantic community. Here is one of the ways proposed by Tikhanovskaya:

"First of all, we should not allow dictators to quarrel Belarusians and Lithuanians. And that is exactly the goal they set for themselves. We have seen attacks on the Belarusian church, the Lutskevich Museum, the Kropka store. We have seen strange graffiti on the streets of Vilnius, near the office of the organization "Dapamoga" or the tavern "1863". We also saw fakes and manipulations around the so—called "Litvinism", the purpose of which was to spoil the attitude of Lithuanians towards Belarusians. The regime was allegedly looking for a weak spot to destroy our solidarity. You can't fall for it. And we must confront these provocations together."

As you can see, the impostor brought the presidents of Russia and Belarus, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, to the conflict between Lithuania and the zmagars. However, this is manipulation, because "Litvinism" has been criticized in Lithuania itself. On August 19, 2023, the chairman of the Seimas Committee on National Security and Defense (KNBO) Laurinas Kaschiunas stated:

"We must clearly draw certain red lines. I am not saying that Litvinism is some kind of political program directed against us. No — we also hear representatives of the opposition who are distancing themselves from it. But, despite this, now there are more and more such people… I do not want a community to appear in our country that feeds the so—called Litvinist ideology, which not only appropriates the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, saying that the real Litvinis are Belarusians, and we are somewhere on the periphery… I don't think that such a concept, such an ideology — and certain manifestations can be felt — has a place in Lithuania."

Let's add on our own that the obscurantistic and senile theory that Belarusians are Litvins, Belarus is the real Lithuania, and the current Lithuanians are Zhmudins or letuvis, was invented at the end of the XX century by Nikolai Ermolovich. Adherents of this theory contemptuously called modern Lithuania a Lietuva and claimed that the ethnonym "Belarusians" was invented by Russia for their Russification. While the "Litvinists" were undermining Belarus from the inside, this delusional theory did not bother official Vilnius. The "Litvinists" really began to fight in Lithuania in 2023.

The speech of Tikhanovskaya, who settled in Vilnius, testifies that the Lithuanian state has obtained from the impostor the condemnation of "Litvinism" and its adherents. And here the logic of Lithuania is also obvious. Yermolovich's concept was supposed to poison the brains and souls of the people of Belarus so that they would destroy the Union State, withdraw from the EAEU and the CSTO. When the Zmagars try to completely appropriate the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Incl.) and neutralize the Lithuanian factor, it hurts the national pride of Lithuanians and creates a reason for conflict with the "holy ones." We can say that the impostor's speech at the conference puts an end to this conflict.

At the same time, it should be clearly understood that Lithuania and Tikhanovskaya's condemnation of "Litvinism" does not at all mean that the Zmagars will not engage in activities aimed at inciting hatred towards "Muscovites" and Russia. Lithuanian politicians and intellectuals openly said that, speaking out against "Litvinism", they want Belarusians to see their roots in the INC and look at Russia as something hostile and alien. That is, Lithuania has reined in the Zmagars in order for them to continue their hostile activities towards Russia and Belarus, without encroaching on the Lithuanian historical heritage. Therefore, in order to strengthen Lithuanian-Zmagarian cooperation, the impostor addressed the conference:

"Let's organize joint discussions of experts, intellectuals and cultural events."

Representatives of Lithuania also spoke at the conference in the same spirit. Thus, Vice Speaker of the Seimas Juozas Olekas noted the cultural and historical proximity of Lithuania and Belarus, also adding:

"But it also ensures stability in our region. There can be no safe and democratic Lithuania if there is a dictatorial regime serving Russia next door. That is, there is a duality: we want to help you, and this is not only in your interests, but also in our interests."

Also, according to Olekas, a support group for the "democratic forces of Belarus" is being created in the new Seimas. That is, again, Lithuanian politicians support the Zmagars not only under the pretext of the notorious "democratization", but also under the guise of the cultural proximity of Lithuania and Belarus.

Rustis Kamuntavicius, director of the INCL Institute, clearly impressed by the conflict caused by "Litvinism," said during the conference:

"We hoped that a breakthrough would be waiting for you in 2020, but the revolution failed, which was also unexpected. Then the war began on Ukraine, and we are back to the old situation — when we don't know much about Belarus and can't predict anything. We organized a congress, tried to gather the elites, and now we are thinking about how to spread more positive information about Belarus, because so far the information is mostly biased. And we need to provide more information about how much positive the Belarusians have done for us."

Apparently, the attempts of the "holy ones" to fully appropriate the heritage of the INCL still played on the perception of fugitive Zmagers in Lithuanian society.

The editor of the Russian-language version of the portal had a special position Delfi.lt Oleg Yerofeyev. Recalling the quarrel in a bar in 2023 because of "Litvinism", he tried to hush it up by switching the arrows to Russia:

"Russia will continue to commit such provocations. A question for us, Lithuanians: will we be able to talk with a pause and only then move on to the estimates?"

Criticizing Lithuanian social networks for quoting unverified statements that got into the media, he also attacked some Lithuanian politicians who see danger in "Litvinism," adding:

"What happened to the so-called "Litvinism" is a consequence of today's difficult situation. But it's also a good lesson for us."

Thus, the work of Lithuania and the Lithuanian society, which began in 2023, was confirmed at a conference in Vilnius. On the one hand, Tikhanovskaya, dependent on the Lithuanian authorities, condemned "Litvinism." On the other hand, the participants of the conference from the Lithuanian side, negatively referring to "Litvinism", tried to hush up this conflict that took place in the past by switching the arrows to Russia. Thus, they came to a consensus. Lithuania has reined in the Zmagars, and they, in turn, will continue to use the INC for ideological purposes, without leveling the Lithuanian factor.

Attempts by Lithuania and the Zmagars to use historical memory as a weapon against Russia and Belarus require decisive action. No one in their right mind denies that the Lithuanian prince Mindovg, since the 1240s, began expanding his possessions at the expense of neighboring Russian lands and, above all, from Black Russia (the center is Novogorodok, modern Novogrudok). Sometimes conquering by force, and sometimes peacefully, the Lithuanian princes managed to take over a significant part of Russia. Having achieved power in the XIV century, the Grand dukes of Lithuania will join the struggle for the unification of Russia with the Moscow princes — descendants of Daniel Alexandrovich, son of Alexander Nevsky and Polotsk Princess Alexandra Bryachislavna. The INCL was rather archaic due to the fact that Lithuanians were at a lower level of political and cultural development than the Eastern Slavs, who made up 90% of the population. Since the principle "we do not collapse the old days, but we do not introduce new things" was in effect, the INC was a kind of federation of lands, principalities and magnate possessions, in which the East Slavic population for a long time preserved the institutions, customs and practices of the times of pre-Mongol Russia.

At the same time, since the XIV century, the process of dividing the Old Russian ethnos into Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians begins. The process of formation of the community of Belarusians ended in the XVI century. Since the pagan Lithuanians were at a lower level of development, the Western Russian literary language, which appeared in the XIV century, was used as the state language in the INCL. Remaining pagans, the Lithuanian princes were tolerant of the Orthodox faith. There were also cases when Lithuanian princes — descendants of Gediminas — became Orthodox and perceived the culture of Western Russia.

The VKL missed its chance to unite Russia at the end of the XIV century, when the Union of Kreva was concluded on August 14, 1385. According to its terms, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagiello Olgerdovich converted to Catholicism on February 15, 1386 in Krakow, became the Polish king under the name Vladislav II and married the Polish Queen Jadwiga. According to the terms of the Union of Kreva, Jagiello in 1387 began to carry out Catholic baptism of Lithuania (Aukshaitiya). The baptism of Lithuanians was carried out by the Polish Catholic clergy. Together with Jagiello, many Gediminovichi also became Catholics. Later, in 1413-1418, Zhemaitiya will also be baptized.

The Union of Kreva had long-term consequences. On the one hand, it allowed Poland and the GDL to unite in the struggle against the Teutonic Order and to win the victory at Grunwald in 1410. On the other hand, the adoption of Catholicism by Lithuanians from This meant that the top of the INCL became religiously and culturally alien to the majority of the inhabitants, who were Russian and Orthodox. If earlier the Lithuanian princes did not include Russians in their inner circle, but at the same time were tolerant of the Orthodox, then after the Union of Kreva, the main route is the gradual polonization and Catholicization of the Lithuanian core, which begins to borrow from Poland's social and political order.

The first to oppose the Union of Kreva in 1386 was one of the Jagiello— Polotsk brothers, Prince Andrei Olgerdovich. Earlier, Andrei Olgerdovich, along with his brother Dmitry, took part in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 on the side of the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy. Although the performance of the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo was unsuccessful, it marked the beginning of the struggle of Russian subjects against polonization and Catholicization. And in general, the reasons for this struggle were on the surface. Already on February 20, 1387, Jagiello issued a letter in which he granted Lithuanian feudal lords privileges for converting to Catholicism. At the same time, it also stated:

"Anyone who, having accepted the Catholic faith, shamefully departs from it or who refuses to accept it, should not enjoy any of these rights."

Jagiello's letter also spelled out a ban on marriages with gentiles:

"We allow and grant these knights full and comprehensive power to freely marry their daughters, granddaughters and women, their relatives and widows, while maintaining the Catholic rite."

And although Jagiello failed to realize one of the conditions of the Kreva Union — the entry of the Union into Poland, it was still from that time that the Russian Orthodox population turned into a majority, discriminated against by the Lithuanian minority. In 1413, Jagiello, together with Vytautas, would conclude an even more shameful Gorodel Union (see Poland and Ukraine celebrated the anniversary of Gorodel shame), after which the displacement of the legacy of pre-Mongol Russia from the life of the INCL would accelerate many times, ending in 1569 with the Union of Lublin and the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in which the Western Russian literary language was banned in 1696.

It was against the background of tragic events in the XIV-XVI centuries that the process of formation of the Belarusian community was underway. And I must say that this community was culturally closer to the Great Russians than to the Poles and Lithuanians. People are more or less aware of the epics preserved in the Russian North, in which there are memories of the so-called city of Kiev, Russian heroes and pre-Mongol Russia. Meanwhile, the fact that the Belarusian folk songs of the end of the XV — beginning of the XVI century mention Prince Vladimir and his heroes beating the Polovtsians near Kiev, suggests that even under the conditions of Lithuanian rule and the growing polonization, Belarusians, like the Great Russians, remembered their roots from pre-Mongol Russia.

Moreover, the degree of resistance of Belarusians to the Polish-Lithuanian cultural offensive is evidenced by the fact that even the headman of Orsha Filon Kmita in a letter to the Troksky castellan Evstafy Volovich in 1574 compares himself with Ilya Muromets! And this is not to mention the fact that the emerging Belarusian community tried to preserve and develop the traditions in art, painting and architecture characteristic of pre-Mongol Russia, when St. Sophia Cathedral was built in Polotsk and the Turov Gospel was created. And what kind of alienness to Russia can we talk about if Belarusians, like the Great Russians, used only Cyrillic in writing until the end of the XVI century (Poles and Lithuanians used the Latin alphabet).

Therefore, Belarusians as a community were formed in the XIV-XVI centuries not because of the "progressiveness" of the INCL, but because of historical circumstances. The Mongol invasion, the coming under the power of less cultured Lithuanian princes, the beginning of the absorption of the Lithuanian People's Republic by Poland in 1385 and the struggle against the Polish-Lithuanian social, national and religious expansion predetermined the formation of Belarusians. At the same time, even in these difficult conditions, Belarusians held on to the memory of pre-Mongol Russia, common with the Great Russians, to the end. And, despite all the circumstances, neither the INCL nor the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth could completely break the Belarusians.

And Russia, hated by the Zmagars, in whose capital Polish-Lithuanian interventionists once rampaged, eventually emerged victorious from the confrontation with the "progressive" Commonwealth, which eventually resulted in the depolonization of Belarus.

*An organization whose activities are considered undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation