This type of response by governments makes me think an actual Russian invasion and a much larger World War are about to happen.
Fair to be wary of a headline like that, but the Baltic manuals are a useful thing to read closely. Several governments, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have published civil-defence guidance over the past few years, and Finland and Sweden have done similar. Most of it is about emergencies in general: how to store water and food for a few days, how to get warnings, how to shelter, what to do if power or phones go down. Officials usually say these updates reflect a broader threat picture rather than a forecast of a specific attack. Whether a given government's timing points to something imminent is a judgement, and reasonable people read it differently: some see prudent planning, others see a signal of alarm. The most reliable way to test your worry is to read the manual itself and the official statement that came with it, then compare them with what the government says it is preparing for. If you find the document, post the link here and we can go through what it actually says, section by section.
Can you tell us the details of what each manual says?
Lithuania is the one I could check in detail. Its current public booklet is the Defence Ministry's 2024 edition, 'What should I do if there is a crisis or war', available in English as a PDF from kam.lt. It covers:
- Family preparation: talk through a plan, note the nearest shelters and collective protection structures, and keep an emergency bag with medicines and warm bedding.
- Roles: separate instructions for conscripts, members of the Civilian Mobilisation Personnel Reserve, Riflemen's Union members, commandant's office members, medical staff and firefighters, and people who aren't employed.
- If an attack or martial law comes: follow official radio and TV news, stay calm, don't leave home without a reason, go to a shelter when ordered, or if you stay home, use a windowless room or basement and tell your neighbours. Help the injured reach safety and help your municipality.
The earlier 2016 edition, 'Prepare to Survive Emergencies and War', was broader. It had survival and cold-weather advice, pictures of Russian tanks and weapons so civilians could identify them, and a section on civil resistance, including strikes and 'doing your job worse than usual'. Its central point, as the LRT report and the press at the time described it, is that a population's awareness and will to resist makes an invasion harder.
I couldn't retrieve the Estonian or Latvian manuals' contents, so I won't describe them from memory. If you send me their links, I'll go through them section by section.
🕒 As of October 2026
