Report
Latvia Weekly: Ethnic Persecution Claims and Conspiratorial Rhetoric
The Antifascists of Pribaltics and Roslikovs’ Telegram channels amplified narratives of ethnic persecution, moral decline, and Western control to portray Latvia as hostile to Russian speakers. Together, they deepen societal divisions and exploit legal and political tensions to fuel populist and pro-Kremlin sentiment.
Weekly Reports
Lithuania Weekly: Government Distrust, Ethnic Divisions, and Freedom of Speech Concerns
Lithuanian media was dominated by various topics, giving a clear and convenient basis for anti-government narratives to spread. Teachers’ protest taking place, was picturing Lithuania as a failed state by harshly criticising its education system; recently proposed comprehensive reform plan for the country’s Public Security Service (VST) sparked many discussions about its necessity and future impact for people in the field; blames of general incompetence of the ruling government continued to be a prominent topic. Kremlin-aligned media in the country claimed to have “finally figured out” who is mainly benefitting from the war in Ukraine, referring to Western countries, mocked the new or ongoing sanctions imposed on Russia, and kept ironically calling Lithuanian politicians the “real supporters of war”.
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Latvia Weekly: Persistent COVID-19 Disinformation, Corruption Claims, and Waning
Whilst the authors remain the same and try to apply a similar video format and narrative as in previous weeks, the engagement is lower. Additionally, some content relating to corruption and low trust in government is getting more prominent among the opposition political party leaders however engagement remains low. Considering that in prior weeks content relating to COVID-19 was relevant due to members of parliament being required to temporarily wear masks, the low engagement on similar content could be attributed to lack of actual evidence of a reintroduction of restrictions or vaccines.
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Estonia Weekly: Government Distrust, Ethnic Divisions, and Freedom of Speech Concerns
Issues of national division, “untrustful” and grim nature of policy, disappointment in the state, government and democracy, as well as Latvian national policy towards the Russian media were among the most discussed topics over the social media in Estonia this week. In general, the narratives were suggesting that Estonian state media is dividing society between Russians and Estonians, solely on ethnic basis, and that politics is the only source of depression. The particular post was illustrated by a “no politics” sign. Other original posts supported that people cannot trust in politicians, people are not free, there is no true freedom of speech. As among the news from Latvia came the decision of the Latvian Parliament regarding the future policies towards the Russian language media, it was quickly translated into the narrative, that Latvian Parliament has adopted a policy of immediate closing of state financed media on Russian Language, which is fake news.
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Lithuania Weekly: Political Distrust and Ethnic Controversies
Moscow-born figure skater Margarita Drobiazko losing her Lithuanian citizenship (over her participation in an event in Russia in August 2022), teachers’ protest taking place, increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases. Kremlin-aligned media carried on anti-government narrative campaign. Also, articles claimed to “finally figure out”, who mainly benefits from the war in Ukraine.
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Latvia Weekly: Escalating COVID-19 Conspiracies and Rising LGBTQ Education Fears
COVID-19 remains a topic that is capable of reaching a wider audience and more engagement. In comparison to last week additionally, to the already existing narrative of mandatory vaccines, content relating to various conspiracy theories is introduced. Additionally to COVID-19, content relating to the education of children regarding gender and overall lgbtq issues gained traction. The content both for COVID-19 conspiracy theories and the creation of panic around LGBTQ issues being taught to children came from the same accounts.
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Estonia Weekly: Political Distrust, LGBTQ Bias, and Ethnic Policy Controversies
Issues of national ethnic policy, trust towards politicians and politics, attitudes towards homosexual persons as well as the matter of the global international politics towards the “small” nations were covered this week in Estonian social media channels and websites. The main narratives were related to trust to the politicians and politics in Estonia, stating that politicians are corrupted and should not be trusted. Another topic was raised in comments to the article, which covered and interview with a homosexual person, immediately suggesting, that gays will seize the power, just because public attention are given to them. Criticism towards national ethnic policy essentially led to the conclusion that the government is dividing society solely on ethnic basis among Russians and Estonians.
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Lithuania Weekly: Anti-Ukraine and Anti-Support Sentiments
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its spillover effects (the outlets highlighted a Russian drone exploding in NATO territory, calculations of Russian losses so far in the war, and Ukraine’s movement in the battlefield around Donetsk city; attempts of migrants to illegally cross the border with Belarus, after Lithuania decided to close two more border crossings with the country; a new rise in COVID-19 cases. Kremlin-aligned media in Lithuania continued to actively promote the anti-government narrative, with the majority of most popular stories from this type of media outlet carrying this sentiment. Articles mainly targeted the whole government and judicial system, accusing them of dishonesty, bribery, and general incompetence. Kremlin-aligned media also emphasised the damage that the war in Ukraine causes to Lithuania and tried to promote the necessity of a truce, under any conditions.
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Latvia Weekly: COVID-19 Disinformation and Anti-Ukraine Sentiments
The main narrative concerned the claims of COVID-19 being a source of government oppression through mandatory vaccines which also doubles as corruption as too much funding is going to buying COVID-19 vaccines. Additionally, the war in Ukraine was also referenced with the main narratives being related to corruption and mismanagement of financial resources. From the two most prominent topics, content relating to COVID-19 gained more overall engagement hence resulting in more COVID-19-related content creation.
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Estonia Weekly: Pro-Russia Sentiments, NATO Skepticism, and Free Speech Concerns
Issues of trade, NATO, Russian language, Estonian language policy, municipal politics and freedom of speech were covered this week in Estonian social media channels and websites. The main narratives were related to the importance of securing good trade relations with Russia, which is a key to Estonian business success. Also, the reliability of NATO was questioned in the narrative over the upcoming exercises. Reforms in Estonian education policy sparked comments on how it will relate to Russian language use in Estonia, while recent legislation that would prevent hate speech was marked as an end of the freedom of speech in Estonia.
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