Russia is informationally destabilizing the Baltic states, – NATO

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This is stated in a report released Thursday by the NATO Centre for Best Practices in the Field of Strategic Communications in Riga, according to Ukrinform.

“The research showed that Russia is using informational confrontation against the entire region and, pointedly, against certain countries… The main narratives that Russia applies to the region are aimed at undermining NATO and EU in the eyes of local population, creating the idea that Russia poses insignificant threat and that the whole region is anti-Russian”, – the authors of the report stated.

The report analyzed the implementation of the information strategy of the Russian Federation in the North-Baltic region, including the activity of pro-Russian sites and state-owned Russian TV channels and news agencies.

In addition, according to a study, the Russian Federation is trying to rewrite the history of the North-Baltic States, glorifying the Soviet past.

“Regarding individual countries, Russia is trying to compromise and even demonize the national governments, demoralize the local population, emphasizing socio-ethnic, economic and political differences, which holds back regional cooperation and relations with NATO,” – the study notes.

It is referred that Russian propaganda manipulates the destabilizing factor of migrants in Europe, discrimination of Russian minorities in the region.

Russian concept of “protecting compatriots abroad”, which supposedly gives Kremlin a moral right to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states, including the use of military force, violation of the territorial integrity of states, is noted specifically. In particular, as mentioned in the report, Russia has applied such actions in Ukraine and Georgia.

It is emphasized that among the countries of the North-Baltic region, Latvia and Estonia are the most vulnerable to Russian propaganda and misinformation in terms of “protection” of the Russian-speaking population.