Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has lashed out at a new film produced by NATO that documents anti-Soviet resistance in the Baltic States after World War II.
“This movement was created on the basis of fascist remnants who collaborated with German occupational authorities,” Zakharova wrote on Facebook. The partisan groups “carried out more than 3,000 acts of sabotage, the victims of which were thousands of civilians.”
NATO’s film titled “Forest Brothers” describes the partisan units in the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania which fought for independence from the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1953.
The film says the partisan groups were supported by the local populations in the Baltic States, a characterization contested by the Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
“Who stood behind the Forest Brothers until the mid 1950s?” Zakharova asks in her Facebook post. “Correct – Western intelligence agencies.”
“There is a collection of documents [that prove this]. NATO knows this better than anyone else. There are declassified, albeit edited, CIA materials.”
The film’s release comes as NATO is bolstering its military presence in the Baltic region and Western Europe amid claims that Russia is trying to destabilize the region.