Lithuania, EU and Canada withdraw support for Vilnius disinfo conference under US pressure

Lithuania’s foreign ministry, as well as Canada and the EU external action service, withdrew support from a disinformation conference in Vilnius after being pressured by the US administration, Politico reported Thursday.

The reported pressure came after organisers announced sessions discussing US role in spreading disinformation.

The #Disinfo2026 conference is being held Wednesday and Thursday in Vilnius. Its program initially included sessions examining the United States as an actor in foreign information manipulation and interference, or FIMI, which reportedly angered the Trump administration.

According to Politico , the US State Department asked American embassies in several European countries and the EU to express Washington’s concerns and determine whether governments participating in the conference agreed with characterising the United States as a FIMI actor.

One session, titled “USA as a FIMI threat: acknowledge, adapt, push back”, featured two American researchers and a former CIA official and examined how the United States had become a disinformation threat to Europe.

Another, titled “Under attack: How the counter-disinformation community is dealing with US government pressure”, asked lawyers to assess the threat posed by US government entry bans targeting European figures.

Canada and Lithuania asked organisers Monday to remove their ministries’ logos from conference materials, according to a conference participant cited by Politico. The European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic service, followed suit Tuesday.

Asked to on the report, the State Department said it could not diplomatic conversations but that it should not be surprising that countries distanced themselves from the conference after learning that it characterised the United States as a “FIMI threat”.

“While we are unable to on the details of diplomatic conversations, it should not be a surprise that countries would disaffiliate from this conference upon learning that it labeled the U.S. a ‘FIMI threat’,” the State Department said in a statement, according to Politico.

Following discussions with US officials, Canada and Lithuania withdrew their support for the conference, meaning they are no longer participating in discussions or featured in conference materials. The European External Action Service was also removed from the official program.

Photographs reviewed by Politico showed conference displays with the logos of the Canadian, Lithuanian and EU diplomatic services covered up. France remained the only major sponsor listed.

Representatives of the European External Action Service and Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry said they withdrew because parts of the conference program did not correspond with their official positions, but they did not specify which parts.

Lithuania’s ministry won’t on US pressure

Approached by BNS for , Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not confirmed whether it withdrew from the conference because of pressure from the US, saying instead the program did not align with Lithuania’s national interests.

“The Foreign Ministry withdrew from participating in the Disinfo 2026 conference, formally distanced itself from the conference’s content, and asked the organisers not to include any references to the ministry in the conference materials once it became clear that certain parts of the program did not align with the government’s positions and Lithuania’s national interests,” the ministry told BNS.

Speaking to LRT RADO, Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said that the conference organisers “went way overboard and made a huge blunder”.

He said he was “surprised and shocked” that the US was being put in the same category as Russia or China.

“This does not align with our views and principles, so we decided to withdraw from the event and, in the future, ensure that the topic of combating disinformation is not twisted into an anti-American narrative that weakens our ties with our allies,” Budrys told LRT RADIO.