The entourage of Russian court historians led by Alexander Dyukov and the Kremlin propaganda system is carrying out a new information attack on the Latvian state. This time the target is the institution of the President of Latvia, which is being defamed by a fabrication about the family biography of Jānis Kažociņš, an Adviser to President Egils Levits.
One would not worry about the fabrications of the Russian government-operated non-governmental organization Фонд Историческая память (Historical Memory Foundation) if the Kremlin propaganda channels were not also widely used by the Russian audience in Latvia. But they are. And the Russians are systematically told by the Kremlin that Latvians were and are Nazi collaborators, while the Red Army were Latvia's liberators. And this immortal Nazi narrative, as part of the policy of the Russian compatriots, helps to maintain the view in Russian society that Latvia is the enemy and that a second invasion would be justified. In turn, Latvian society cultivates hatred between the two communities, which are already divided because of their different understandings of history.
Last year and the year before, Kremlin-hired history falsifiers were also intensively engaged in glorifying the Soviet occupation regime and the Red Army, for example, in connection with the erection of new monuments or the reburial of important Soviet officers in Latvia. Yes, even thirty years and more after the restoration of independence, new monuments to the Soviet occupation army are being erected in Latvia and existing ones are being restored. Moreover, this is happening with the cooperation of the Embassy of the Russian Federation and municipalities, and with the knowledge of state institutions.
The short fairytale of the latest "study" by the Historical Memory Foundation is that Jānis Kažociņš, adviser to the President of Latvia, grew up among the Nazis, while Egils Levits graduated in his youth from the Münster Gymnasium run by the Daugavas vanagi (Daugava Hawks) legionnaire organization. And that is why he hired Jānis Kažociņš as National Security Adviser and Secretary of the National Security Council. This is proof that contemporary Latvian policies are moved by "secret Nazi springs". Alexander Dyukov concludes his story about Jānis Kažociņš with an ominous phrase:
"We are telling about the crimes of the Latvian SS. For us, they are criminals. But for him it is family. And some of this family are alive."
The alleged ongoing revival and vindication of Nazism in the Baltic States is the main subject of Dyukov's work. Last year, an exhibition dedicated to the Baltic States was held in the building of the Chamber of Public Affairs of the Russian Federation in Moscow. The aim was to defame, discredit and denigrate Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, but above all to arouse the sympathy of Russian citizens for the suffering of their compatriots. The title of the exhibition is "30 Years of Baltic Independence. Political Prisoners. Censorship. Neo-Nazism." Because of Covid, no one visited the exhibition in person, but it was an opportunity to set in motion another wave of hostile information against the Baltic States. The scheme is simple: a "trustworthy historian institution" spreads a fabrication, then the Kremlin media such as Sputnik republish it, and the rest of the media then feeds off the Sputnik.
And the same is happening in the latest information operation, only this time it is more precisely targeted - it is aimed at defaming one particular Latvian state institution, the President of Latvia. "Российский историк раскрыл страшные тайны советника президента Латвии." Russian historian reveals the horrifying secrets of the Adviser to the Latvian President.
The "study" that Dyukov is circulating is undoubtedly a propaganda product of a high professional standard. It includes historical evidence, material from various archives, rare footage, quotes from interviews. Embassy agents even travelled to the Valka municipality to immortalize the tombstones. To make this fabrication look more scientific. However, even without going into the factual material, the "study" shows very blatant manipulation. A grey-haired Latvian man, a former legionnaire, falsely claimed to be a relative of Jānis Kažociņš, praises the Germans in the Russian translation, while the original Latvian that is playing in the background says nothing of the sort. But the Russian public does not hear or understand this. They hear what Dyukov wants them to hear - "The Germans came in, and that was my good fortune".
Neatkarīgā asked for a comment from the Chancery of the President on the message spread by Sputnik and received confirmation that it was a fabrication.
The allegedly discrediting picture from his youth does not even show Jānis Kažociņš, nor has he ever been to Australia, through which the allegedly exposed Nazi thread in the family of Advisor Kažociņš has been pulled from. Jānis Kažociņš, a centenarian and legionnaire living in Australia, is not a relative of Advisor Jānis Kažociņš. And his grandfather's brother died before the outbreak of the Second World War. Never-ending lies! But this rebuttal is unlikely to change the course of the fabrication in the pro-Kremlin media and its derivatives on social networks.
Alexander Dyukov is not a historian, but a Kremlin agent for hire, a professional liar and manipulator.
He has been persona non grata in Latvia since 2012, complete with all his historical memories and foundations. He is banned from entering Latvia. In his latest fabrication, he does not even hide the fact that he has a grudge against the President's Adviser, Jānis Kažociņš, who, as head of the Constitution Protection Bureau, already several years ago had spoken out against the activities of the "organization" led by Dyukov in Latvia. So in this case, the Kremlin's order to discredit the institution of the President of Latvia has been carried out in conjunction with petty personal revenge.
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Comment by the Chancery of the President of Latvia:
Sputnik is regarded as a Russian propaganda tool in the information environment, which has often spread false news about Latvia.
The former legionnaire living in Australia mentioned in the fabricated material, Jānis Kažociņš, is not a relative of Advisor Janis Kažociņš. Advisor Jānis Kažociņš' grandfather, Kārlis Kažociņš, had a brother, Jānis Kažociņš, who died before the outbreak of World War II in Latvia.
Advisor Jānis Kažociņš never visited Australia. The young man in the photograph is not Advisor Jānis Kažociņš in his youth.
Advisor Jānis Kažociņš sang in the Daugava choir in Bradford, UK, when he was young.