Main narratives:
- General anti-government sentiments;
- Russophobic rhetoric ;
- Anti-military comments.
Overview:
In the first half of last week, the issue of the future status of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (EOC MP) resurfaced in local Russian-speaking Facebook and Telegram groups. The church continues to publicly dispute the Ministry of Interior over its canonical ties to the Moscow Patriarchate. This time attention was drawn to a post by an activist calling for signatures on a petition in defence of the EOC MP deputy. The call was accompanied by a false claim that the new amendments to the Law on Churches and Congregations, initiated by the Ministry of Interior, would allegedly lead to a ban on the activities of the EOC MP deputy. The post received more than 100 reactions, and 87 comments and was shared 97 times. The appeal was reposted on popular Russian-language Facebook and Telegram groups. Eventually, a comment from a representative of the Ministry of Interior appeared below the original post, refuting claims of an imminent ban on the activities of the Orthodox Church. This may be yet another attempt by pro-Kremlin activists to accuse the Estonian authorities of Russophobia.
In addition, some anti-NATO and anti-military narratives continued to spread in the Estonian information space, as the “Pikne” defence exercises took place in the border areas near Russia with the participation of allied troops from some NATO countries, and Estonia also mobilised some military reserve units. Critics on social media have accused the government of irrational spending of taxpayers’ money when the socio-economic situation is worsening and new taxes will be introduced in 2025. As the leaders of 10 NATO countries gather in Tallinn to discuss their role in European security on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), some politicians have proposed increasing defence spending to 2.5% or even 3% of GDP, which has also attracted negative sentiments from many social media users.
