Pro-Russian resources began to disseminate information that the Lithuanian authorities are planning to introduce a “rain tax”, the reason for which was “exorbitant expenses” on the country’s defense and the supply of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine. They say that the Lithuanian government no longer knows where to look for additional resources to cover the country’s expenses, so it resorts to innovative methods. This is manipulation.

This case was processed by fact-checkers from the Center for Countering Disinformation. They found out that in some Lithuanian counties there is indeed a rain tax, although it is not related to the war in Ukraine. For example, in Alytus, city residents have been paying it since 1996. It is worth noting that the tax is levied only on residents of private houses and provided that precipitation fell on their territory and entered the general runoff. It turns out that the tax is not really for rain, but for the treatment of rainwater by wastewater treatment plants.

Russian disinformation in this case aims to undermine Lithuanians’ trust in their government, encourage them to boycott financial assistance to Ukraine, and generally weaken international support for our country. One of the key messages of propagandists here is that the internal problems of the state have not been resolved in Lithuania and, for example, school teachers periodically go on strike due to low salaries, and the authorities are indifferent to this - they are thinking about Ukraine.