Revealed: Kremlin's 'soft power' machine in the Baltics

Take note – story published 8 years ago

Latvia-based investigative journalism group Re:Baltica published a new report Friday that claims to expose the long reach of the Kremlin in extending its influence throughout the Baltic region in general and Latvia in particular.

A year-long investigation shows: while with one hand the Kremlin strangles non-governmental organizations in Russia, with the other it generously supports the defenders of its interests in the Baltics by funding NGOs there. 

"It's an open secret in the Baltics that Russia financially supports local NGOs who defend its policies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The only unknown is how generous that support is," Re:Baltica says.

The investigation shows that there are more than 40 such organizations in the Baltic states that have received at least 1.5 million euros through legal means in the last three years.

The report also outlines the similar but subtly different methods used by pro-Kremlin NGOs in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

You can read the full article here.

A second strand of the investigation claims to show how Russia's propaganda machine works ahead of a forthcoming documentary film titled "Dangerous Liaisons" that saw Re:Baltica journalist Sanita Jemberga travelling to France, Poland, the UK and other countries.

An account of the making of the film is contained in this Re:Baltica article

The main conclusion: compared to Soviet propaganda, which targeted ideological supporters of socialism and communism, Putin's propaganda machine targets individuals who hold different - often conflicting - worldviews.

Seen a mistake?

Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor

Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor

Related articles

More

Most important