Main narratives:
- Baltic States are irrelevant puppets of USA;
- NATO / Baltic States are aggressors.
Overview:
Kremlin-aligned Telegram channels are using Trump to bolster their messaging and pushing a negative narrative portraying NATO and Baltic States as aggressors.
The channels frame Trump’s presidency as a victory against immoral liberal values, celebrating it as the end of “the horror of tolerant liberals and LGBT crowds”. They use humor to undermine Baltic sovereignty, as seen in a meme showing Trump asking Putin about Latvia, with Putin dismissively calling it “a small village near St. Petersburg.” This is a use of humor and memes to discredit the statehood of Baltic States and portray Baltic States as irrelevant in the great power politics which will ensue with Trump as the US president.
These channels also portray debates about increasing Baltic military spending as an “auction” to appease Trump, while defensive infrastructure projects are characterized as aggressive moves. For instance, they claim that Riga’s port modernization and the Rail Baltic project equate to the creation of threatening “bridgeheads” against Russia and Belarus. After NATO deployed ships to Estonia in response to a Russian “shadow fleet” vessel cutting a Baltic Sea power line, the channels framed this as Estonia being used as a “battering ram” against Russia.
The overall messaging strategy uses humor to spread anti-Baltic sentiment, frames defensive measures as aggression, portrays Baltic states as U.S. puppets rather than sovereign allies, and suggests Trump’s presidency will marginalize Baltic interests in favor of Russian ones.
