Main narratives:
- Discrimination of Russian speakers
- Anti-establishment sentiments
Overview:
The dominant topic in social media discussions last week was the results of Estonia’s municipal elections, held from 13 to 19 October 2025. In Tallinn, the Centre Party — traditionally highly popular among the Russian-speaking electorate — secured victory with 41.7% of the vote. Their support was also substantial in Ida-Viru County; however, in the region’s key town, Narva, the winner was the electoral alliance led by former Centre Party politician Mihhail Stalnuhhin, which successfully mobilized protest voters dissatisfied with what they describe as the “ruling elite’s policies.” Across major Russian-language social media groups, election-related debate largely converged on a single overarching narrative: distrust in Estonia’s electoral system, and particularly in e-voting. Many commentators sympathetic to the Centre Party argued that electronic voting lacks transparency and cannot be trusted — a view that aligns with the party leadership’s recurring recommendation to vote traditionally at polling stations. These users claimed that the results of online voting had been manipulated, allegedly preventing the Centre Party from securing an absolute majority in Tallinn. Supporters of the populist party KOOS — whose leader Aivo Peterson is charged with treason — escalated criticism further, attacking the electoral system as a whole, including the 5% threshold required for parties and alliances to enter local councils. Their messaging gained significant engagement, reinforcing narratives of mistrust toward democratic processes and institutions in Estonia. While such narratives were deployed primarily to serve domestic partisan interests in the context of the elections, they carry broader security implications. The amplification of distrust toward Estonia’s electoral system creates vulnerabilities that hostile foreign actors may exploit in information and psychological influence operations.
Another topic was related to the Omniva’s decision to discontinue Russian-language customer service in Estonia. Many pro-Kremlin voices framed the move as part of a broader campaign against the Russian-speaking population in the country. Posts on social media and comment sections characterised the decision as “Russophobic” and politically motivated, claiming it reflects Estonia’s lead Western “anti-Russian” policies. Such narratives frequently dismissed Omniva’s stated business rationale—declining demand and the availability of translation tools—and instead portrayed the change as an attempt to “erase” Russian language and culture from public life. These reactions echoed familiar Kremlin-aligned talking points that depict Estonia and other Baltic nations as systematically hostile toward Russian speakers, positioning the issue within the larger information space of post-Ukraine war tensions and identity politics in the region.
