Report
Latvia Weekly: Local Actors Amplify Stories of Oppression and Resistance
Local populist or Kremlin-aligned political actors painted a picture themselves as persecuted victims of an oppressive establishment while positioning their controversial stances as vindicated common sense. This narrative delegitimizes the state and portrays their radical populism as righteous resistance against systemic persecution.
Weekly Reports
Latvia Weekly: Media and Trump
During the examined week, the content primarily surrounded previously mentioned narratives, such as the need to support Donald Trump, corruption within the coalition government, the Istanbul Convention, and potential threats by Russia. A video published on Tiktok regarding a German warship in Riga garnered 740k views and 1,5k comments. The opinions expressed in the comments show two things: first, there is trust in the effectiveness of NATO and second, there is a brief that Russian threats might materialise shortly. Regarding the form of the content, TikTok remains the platform that creates the most engagement and reaches a larger audience. Some of the examined content creators are increasingly more active on Twitter, and engagement is not as high as in TikTok, but it is now comparable to that of Facebook.
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Estonia Weekly: Cars and Estonian schools
The bulk of the posts focused on the switch in the language of instruction in Estonian schools, the issues that will arise, and how the government will do nothing about it except create a Potemkin village. There were also many posts regarding new taxes on things such as cars and pensions, with the Conservative Estonian People’s Party calling for people to protest by stopping their vehicles because protests are the only way to get the government’s attention. Finally, there were posts about Estonia being pushed by the West towards war with Russia and posts about Kaya Kallas trying to appear as non-Russian as possible.
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Lithuania Weekly: financial scandals threatening the government
During this reporting week, Kremlin-aligned media mainly held on the BaltCap’s case, as the recent internal investigation found Šarūnas Stepukonis may have embezzled even €40.4 million, and the fact that MP Justas Džiugelis has suspended his membership at the ruling Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democratic (TS-LKD) party and left the party’s group at the Seimas amid reports of his ties to a gambling lobbyist.
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Latvia Weekly: Media and Trump
In the examined week, the content surrounded domestic issues such as corruption and media funding and international topics such as the upcoming US elections, NATO and assistance for Ukraine. Most notably, there is a highly critical view of the capabilities and the effectiveness of NATO, which were also prominent in the prior two weeks. The reasoning for such claims is rooted in the unwillingness of other NATO states to help in the case of an attack. Regarding content, the leading platform remains TikTok which garners the most engagement and there is a significant decrease in engagement with content published on Facebook. Although some of the examined content creators are increasingly more active on Twitter/X, engagement remains low.
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Estonia Weekly: Macron and Schools
This week, many posts focused on Kai Kallas’s reaction to the French President’s speech on Ukraine and her willingness to send Estonians into the war for Ukraine. There were also posts about shutting down some schools and the loss of teachers’ jobs, as well as about school janitors and cafeteria workers being required to speak Estonian at an A2 level and how that is not helpful or useful. Finally, there continue to be posts regarding the Estonian economy and Kai Kalla’s and the government’s reactions and actions toward it.
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Lithuania Weekly: Two years on since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
During this reporting week, Kremlin-aligned media were mainly concentrated on the upcoming Presidential elections and continued to spread anti-government sentiments. Even though this narrative is well-established, the current intensity of this narrative is remarkable: this may be directly associated with the Lithuanian elections due to take place later this year. Because of bypassing the years mark of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine during this reporting period, Kremlin-aligned outlets also discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine, claiming that “Lithuania will enter the war in Ukraine together with the Poles by sending their troops”. Articles criticised the government, stating that “Lithuania does not need the war with the Russians that this traitorous government is preparing “ and broadly portraying Ukraine’s victory as elusive and its government as “untrustworthy”.
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Latvia Weekly: Public Transport and NATO
In the examined week, the content primarily surrounded domestic issues relating to alleged corruption, the potential invasion by Russia, and the inability of NATO to protect the Baltic states. Such narratives have been employed by highly nationalistic content creators claiming to be supporters of Ukraine and those more aligned with the Kremlin narratives. The premise of the claim is that NATO is either ineffective not have the capability to protect the Baltic states or will not be willing to protect the Baltic states in the case of an invasion.
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Estonia Weekly: Military commitments and foreign policy
This week, many posts focused on Kai Kallas’s reaction to the French President’s speech on Ukraine and her willingness to send Estonians into the war for Ukraine. There were also posts about shutting down some schools and the loss of teachers’ jobs, as well as about school janitors and cafeteria workers being required to speak Estonian at an A2 level and how that is not helpful or useful. Finally, there continue to be posts regarding the Estonian economy and Kai Kalla’s and the government’s reactions and actions toward it.
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Lithuania Weekly: Weekly: Death of Alexei Navalny and undermining trust in NATO
Kremlin-aligned media outlets broadly commented on NATO and its possible faith. Outlets emphasised the questionable future of the organisation if Trump becomes the President, foreseeing that “it would be over for NATO”. Outlets also pictured Ukraine’s victory as impossible and ensured that “US and Europe have lost the war to Russia in Ukraine, and Crimea and Donbas will remain Russian territories”. Outlets also speculated the reasons behind the death of “the US-funded and Western-praised” Alexei Navalny, seeking conspiracy theories of whom to blame and calling him “a Western puppet”.
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