Dimitri Teperik
In his policy paper Dimitri Teperik, co-founder and Director of National Centre of Defence and Security Awareness in Estonia examines threats to democracy in the Baltic states caused by populism spreading on their political scenes. He underlines that divisive narratives and anti-establishment messages multiplied by the populists are the carriers of well-hidden Russian influence, as openly visible Russian interference decreased since 2022. The author points out that ethnic Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic countries are being instrumentalized in issues such as language, religion or culture.
Dimitri Teperik argues that even the westernisation of the Baltic states since regaining their independence is quite advanced, there are still loopholes through which pro-Kremlin propaganda might be delivered. The special target to those actions are particular ethnolinguistic, religious and social groups within societies. Russian propaganda can be spotted in the Baltic states’ social discourses: promoting authoritarian ideologies and waking up anti-establishment sentiments that may jeopardise the democratic values upheld by the EU.
The report gives case-studies of the Russian agenda in the Baltic states. In Estonia, the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is perceived as an obvious source of Russian influence. Attempts to separate canonically linked Churches heated up Estonian public debate. The cut of influence of the Russian Cultural Centre as well as Russian-based TV channels or websites in Latvia, has been found very disrupting by the Russian-speakers. In Lithuania Russian-speaking citizens and immigrants are generally mistrusted and perceived as spreading Russian influence which causes more division in the society.
Local populists or russian agents – download report
What is more, in each Baltic state the political scene is not free of pro-Russian voices. Those voices are in general anti-liberal, Eurosceptic and view Russia as a defender of traditional values, although there is no direct support for the Russian full-scale aggression against Ukraine. The most radical parties in the Baltic states remain rather marginal on the political scene, yet they are very vocal about their agenda, adding polarisation to the societies.
The policy paper was produced as part of the “Protecting European Values” project.
