Reports
Latvia Weekly: Disinformation Campaigns Keep on Targeting Istanbul Convention
Latvia's conservative politicians have launched a disinformation campaign falsely claiming the violence prevention treaty promotes forced gender transitions for children, Marxist ideology, and the destruction of traditional values. These narratives closely mirror Russian information operations designed to portray Western liberal-democratic values as morally decadent threats to society, either deliberately amplifying or unwittingly enabling broader efforts to undermine Latvia's European integration and democratic institutions.
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Latvia Weekly: Disinformation Fuels Opposition to the Istanbul Convention
Ainars Šlesers of party Latvia First propagates false narratives claiming the Istanbul Convention promotes a "117 gender policy" and threatens traditional families, when the treaty actually focuses solely on preventing violence against women and domestic violence. He employs aggressive rhetoric against political opponents, repeatedly comparing Progressive party members to "Lenin," sharing digitally altered images of them, and using terms like "gangsters" and accusations of "aggression" and "brainwashing" to delegitimize those who support the Convention.
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Latvia Monthly: Disinformation Portrays Latvia as Both Militarily Weak and Recklessly Aggressive
Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels in September disseminated multiple narratives about Latvia, including portraying language education policies as discriminatory oppression, mocking military capabilities, and framing Russian military exercises as transparent while dismissing Baltic security concerns. Domestic disinformation intensified around the Istanbul Convention, with opposition politicians fabricating conspiracy theories about gender ideology and immorality to misrepresent a violence prevention treaty and undermine human rights protections.
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Latvia Weekly: Istanbul Convention Withdrawal Debate Revives Old Conspiracies
Despite Latvia's ratification of the Istanbul Convention in 2023 and its proven benefits for violence victims, conservative politicians in preparation for parliamentary elections next year have launched a withdrawal campaign fueled by baseless disinformation claims that the treaty promotes "117 genders," “pedophilia,” and moral decline. This deliberately misrepresents a violence prevention treaty as a conspiracy against traditional values echoing narratives disseminated by Russia.
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