The single event that attracted the most attention was Estonia’s decision to expel a Russian embassy diplomat over subversive activities. In Russia’s propaganda media, Estonia was accused of deliberately attempting to paralyze the work of the embassy’s consular section, and promises were made to ‘respond to Tallinn’s hostile actions.’ A curious example came from political scientist Dmitry Zhuravlyov, who claimed: ‘The expulsion of a Russian diplomat from Estonia seems like a desperate attempt by the European Union to influence the upcoming meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska.’
The title reads: “Estonia Suspected of Allowing Its Airspace to Be Used by Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Drones.”
“The drone that crashed in Estonia also received extensive coverage. Initially, the incident was reported in a fairly neutral tone, with information primarily relayed from Estonian media. Soon, however, Estonia became a target of ridicule: it was a Ukrainian drone that exploded, yet in the Estonians’ view, Russia was again to blame.
‘In fact, this was presented as yet another example of how Tallinn has tied itself to a regime that uses allied territory as a springboard for attacks and thereby endangers Estonia’s own citizens,’ the media analysis states. ‘In addition, “expert” opinions began to appear, suggesting that Estonia might allow Ukrainian drones to use its airspace to carry out strikes against Russia. Such a scenario would point to NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict and make Estonia complicit in attacks on Russian territory.’
By contrast, the drone crash in Estonia received little attention in Western media—among the larger outlets, agencies such as Bloomberg, AFP, and DPA covered the incident, relying on information released in Tallinn.”
Russian media also mocked Prime Minister Kristen Michal’s announcement that Tallinn is ready to send an entire platoon (company) of soldiers to Ukraine. Such a decision would mean drawing Estonia into the conflict, even though Moscow has warned that the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine could lead to uncontrolled escalation.
The title reads: “Elite Ukrainian Mercenary of Estonian Origin Killed in Ukraine.“
Russian propaganda channels expressed satisfaction over the death of at least the sixth Estonian mercenary in Ukraine, Olev Roost, who was reportedly killed in strikes by Russian special forces. ‘Moscow has repeatedly emphasized that the Kyiv regime uses foreigners as cannon fodder,’ the Government Office’s analysis reports. ‘The fate of the Estonian shows that foreign fighters who went to war are not facing a heroic death, but inevitable destruction.’
In early August, much attention was also directed at the Narva border crossing, first of all due to Estonia’s decision to begin fortifying it. The Russian audience was told that Estonia had started installing massive metal gates on the Friendship Bridge, but that ‘a Russian tank cannot be stopped with a metal fence.’ The strengthening of the border post was presented as part of a larger fortification belt being built this year, which would allegedly include minefields, and the demolition of bridges and pipelines if necessary.
Although border crossing opportunities along Russia’s entire western frontier have been sharply reduced since Putin’s attack on Ukraine, Estonian authorities were blamed in the summer for the “artificially” created long queues at the border. ‘Estonian residents are said to complain that they are not allowed to travel freely to Russia for vacations or shopping, while Tallinn justifies the restrictions with security arguments,’ the media analysis states. ‘Such steps, it is claimed, show how the Estonian government is deliberately trying to obstruct people’s everyday contacts and ties with Russia.
“Estonia is next” lives on
In the last month of summer, foreign media paid little attention to Estonia in the context of security policy. The main focus was on Ukraine’s peace negotiations, and Estonia appeared in the spotlight primarily through the positions of our spokespersons in major outlets such as BBC, CNN, Welt, and others. Several joint statements of support for Ukraine by Estonia and its partners were also covered—for example, the Financial Times piece “Baltic States know Russian occupation is never temporary.”
Unfortunately, several opinion articles by so-called pseudo-experts were also published, claiming that a favorable peace agreement for Putin in Ukraine could increase his arrogance and encourage him to test the functioning of NATO’s Article 5.
Stories perpetuating the “Estonia is next” narrative continued to appear in August. Some of these were opinion pieces and analyses of Trump’s meetings with Putin and European leaders, which, among other things, concluded that Trump’s actions could lead to a situation where seizing other countries’ territories by force becomes normalized—something that could in turn endanger the Baltic States. The most peculiar of these was an article in the German magazine Focus titled “Putin promises not to attack us — but the ‘Narva scenario’ cannot be ruled out.”
Inspired by German political scientist Carlo Masala’s book “When Russia Wins. A Scenario”, German journalists visited Hiiumaa, since, according to the scenario described in the book, this island, together with Narva, would be the place Russia attacks to test NATO.
Although the articles themselves were more or less balanced in content, the headlines and introductions were once again misleading: “Fear of Russia, Hiiumaa: how the residents of the Baltic Sea island are preparing for emergencies”; “In the middle of the Baltic Sea lies the Estonian island of Hiiumaa—picturesque, peaceful, but also extremely sensitive militarily. Only 150 kilometers separate it from Russia. Since the war in Ukraine, concerns have been growing that Putin might put NATO to the test here. Residents are preparing and practicing for a full-scale emergency.”
Finally, a reading recommendation:
How Russia is trying to win over the world outside the West—BBC. Over the past three years, the state-backed TV channel RT, along with the news agency and radio Sputnik, has expanded its international presence, now broadcasting in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. This coincides with the visible weakening of Western media in some of these regions due to budget cuts and shifts in foreign policy priorities.
Screenshots used: Gazetu.ru and AiF.ru.
