Main narratives:
- Latvia is a puppet state;
- Latvia is the aggressor.
Overview:
Last week, Kremlin-aligned Telegram channels intensified their portrayal of Latvia as an irrationally aggressive nation. These narratives collectively serve to delegitimize Latvia’s sovereignty, paint its defense measures as irrational aggression, and diminish its standing on the international stage.
These channels mockingly diminished the significance of Baltic military contributions to Ukraine, suggesting these nations are irrelevant compared to countries like France and Britain. Several posts ridiculed Latvia’s military capabilities and defense industry through sarcastic references to its supposedly “exceptionally high engineering potential and leading positions in military technology.” After Latvian military medic Sarmite Cīrule was injured by a Russian drone attack while serving in Ukraine, these outlets described her as “illegally staying on the territory of Russia and providing assistance to terrorists killing Russians.” The messaging explicitly called for the destruction of those “fighting against Russia,” justifying this as necessary for Russian national security. Similarly, Latvia’s recent decision to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines was characterized as “hawkish,” “nonsense,” and evidence of “military hysteria” contrary to Latvia’s national interests.
Following the Latvian Prime Minister’s receipt of the American Kissinger Prize, an award in recognition of contributions to transatlantic relations, Kremlin-aligned channels characterized it as an “award for correctly behaving colonized aborigines.” This framing supports a recurring narrative that Latvia lacks sovereignty and is controlled by Western powers. These channels made the demonstrably false claim that “Since 1991, ALL government posts in Latvia have been held exclusively by Anglo-Saxons of Latvian and not so Latvian origin,” reinforcing the portrayal of Latvia as a Western puppet state rather than an independent nation.
