Main narratives:
- General anti-government sentiments;
- Soviet rhetoric.
Overview:
At the end of last week, a news story about the opposition party KOOS / Вместе, which many accuse of having pro-Russian views, launching a petition calling for a revision of Narva’s hot water and heating tariffs, gained considerable traction on social media. The demands themselves seem unrealistic in a market economy: the petition’s authors call for “more affordable prices for Narva residents”. Nevertheless, in comments under social media posts on the subject, Narva residents expressed their full support for the initiative. In addition, the petition’s authors promise to organise a big protest near Narva City Hall. It is reasonable to assume that the KOOS party is trying to capitalise on public discontent over high heating costs for its political ends – possibly signaling the start of an election campaign ahead of the local elections scheduled for October 2025.
In addition, social media users posted many critical comments about the synchronisation of train timetables on the Tallinn-Riga-Vilnius route, which has multiple connections, long travel times, the lack of a single ticket, relatively high costs and differences in comfort. Although all the arguments are well-founded and reduce the comfort of the journey, making this rail link less competitive and more confusing, some of the critics blamed the governments for their inability to create a proper rail link between the Baltic capitals, as plans for a modern RailBaltic line have been severely delayed and the budget estimates have been revised several times. In addition to ridicule, some commentators injected Soviet nostalgia and promoted narratives of Soviet transport supremacy.
