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A foreword written by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is raising concerns in Eastern Europe that Moscow is once again laying the groundwork to challenge a neighbor\u2019s international borders. Lavrov\u2019s preface appears in a monograph titled \u201cThe History of Lithuania<\/a>,\u201d published in March but only recently noticed by journalists. The book questions the existence of the Lithuanian language and the very statehood of modern-day Lithuania.\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys called the monograph a tool of Russian propaganda and likened its message to Vladimir Putin\u2019s July 2021 essay<\/a>, On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians, in which the president rejected the foundations of Ukrainian sovereignty. (Days before ordering troops into Ukraine, Putin reiterated a key thesis from the essay, claiming that Vladimir Lenin invented the Ukrainian state.)<\/p>\n In his foreword, Lavrov accuses the Baltic states, including Lithuania, of trying to \u201cuse falsified historical narratives to incite anti-Russian and Russophobic sentiments.\u201d The book, he says, pushes back against this trend.<\/p>\n The monograph, The History of Lithuania, was published in 2025 by the Moscow State Institute of International Relations\u2019 publishing house. The lead author of the nine-member team was Maxim Grigoryev, head of the pro-Kremlin Foundation for the Study of Democracy Problems, a member of Russia\u2019s Civic Chamber, and chair of the \u201cInternational Public Tribunal on the Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis.\u201d Grigoryev is also a veteran of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n