Organizations:
Reports
Estonia Weekly: Discrimination of Russian Speakers and Ukraine
This week primarily maintained the topics of economic situation, national language policy in Estonian schools and war in Ukraine. Also, the matters of European Union affairs are rather important, this week focusing on the question of veto rights for the EU member countries
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Estonia Weekly: Distrust in the Government
This week posts over the social media and web-based news outlets were mainly focusing on the issue of Russian language status, economic issues, places of memory for the Soviet soldiers, as well as the “standard” Kremlin propaganda messages regarding the Estonian membership in NATO and European Union. Two “arguments” would highlight the week – that Estonian expenditures towards the national defense will destroy the production and manufacturing industry in Estonia, and that Estonian government would reinstate its independence and serve its citizens best, if Estonia would withdraw from EU and NATO and resume full scale economic ties with Russia. The main narratives of this week are as follows: that Estonian government intentionally is destroying production and industry in Estonia; the national policy of Estonia is discriminating Russian language; that Estonian government makes fun of the memory of Soviet soldiers who died in World War II by destroying their memorials; that war in Ukraine is a pretext to discriminate Russian language in Estonian schools for Russian speaking children; That while Estonia is a member of NATO and EU and until economic ties with Russia are restored, there is no independent Estonian government, that would care about interests of Estonian people.
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Estonia Weekly: Language, Culture, and Geopolitical Tensions
This week, social media and news outlets in Estonia concentrated on educational policies, particularly the use of the Estonian language in schools with Russian-speaking students, and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. There was notable attention given to a pro-Palestine demonstration in Tallinn. Discussions also touched upon the significance of Russian culture in Estonia and the potential EU enlargement to include Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, arguing from a financial standpoint that these changes would not benefit Estonia. The narratives conveyed a sense of threat to language rights, misinformation about the Middle East, doubts about the benefits of EU enlargement for Estonia, concerns over the state of freedom of speech and assembly, and a belief in the deep ties between Estonian and Russian cultures.
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Latvia Weekly: Historical Narratives, Migration Concerns, and Economic Alliances
This week continued to explore previously addressed topics such as the Istanbul Convention, corruption, and illegal migration on Latvia's eastern border, but without the predominance of COVID-19 content seen in previous months. The narratives remain deeply negative and critical towards the Latvian government, focusing particularly on allegations of corruption.
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