Main narratives:
- USA will improve relations with Russia;
- USA will abandon Europe and the Baltics.
Overview:
Recent posts in Kremlin-aligned Telegram channels have been actively spreading various narratives around Donald Trump’s claimed statements and their potential implications. These posts appear designed to create uncertainty about NATO alliances and suggest potential shifts in international relations. Monitored channels focused on several key themes.
One post claimed that an American company, Mondelez International, has allegedly re-started food exports to Russia and that its products are being used to supply Russian military forces. The post attributed this supposed change to Trump’s election. This narrative attempts to imply that ongoing international sanctions against Russia might be ending with Trump as president.
Another post used Trump’s boasts of buying foreign territories to provide an alternative history. It claimed that Swedes decided to “sell the Baltic States to the Russian Empire”, which is untrue. Russia conquered the Baltics from the Swedes. This was an attempt to normalize aggressive Russia’s territorial expansion and equate it with what Trump claims the US would do.
The channels also worked to undermine Western media credibility, specifically claiming that after Trump’s election social media, such as Facebook, are abandoning “censorship” – “People will no longer be silenced for their opinion”. Hinting that the US is not democratic and censors the media (the same as Russia). Another claimed that the Western media are biased against the good guys – Trump and Russia. This post targeted the Financial Times’ reporting on European security concerns and attempted to dismiss legitimate security discussions by framing them as baseless fears about Russia and Trump.
Two posts contained hahaganda – strategic use of humor. One ironically commented that the West does not like Russia, because Russia “put its borders too close to NATO bases”. Another considered possibility is whether Latvia should “become the 51st state of the United States?” drawing inspiration from Trump’s claims to buy Greenland.
These narratives demonstrate consistent themes in Kremlin-aligned messaging which use Trump’s radical statements: attempting to create doubt about Western alliances, questioning Baltic independence, and equating Russian actions with that of the US.
