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KEY EVENTS • Messaging portrayed Ukraine as a threat to the security of the Baltic States • FIMI outlets targeted upcoming parliamentary elections in EU member states • Pro-Kremlin narratives advocated for lifting EU sanctions on Russian energy LAST WEEK IN REVIEW Pro-Kremlin disinformation campaigns continued to distort Ukraine’s military actions, electoral processes, and Europe’s energy policies. A false narrative accused Ukraine of risking nuclear escalation by allegedly targeting Baltic states—a claim based on debunked drone reports. Russian FIMI intensified efforts to manipulate elections across Europe, including in Bulgaria (seeking EU support against interference) and Hungary (falsely framing Ukraine and the EU as destabilising forces). Similar tactics were observed in Armenia, echoing past campaigns in Moldova and Georgia. Another persistent trope claimed Europe’s only solution to an energy crisis is to restore Russian supplies, ignoring the success of sanctions in weakening Moscow’s war economy. These narratives aim to undermine Western unity, discredit Ukrainian resistance, and pressure EU states into policy reversals. MAIN FIMI NARRATIVES BEING SPREAD: ‘Ukraine is in

There is no reduction in the gas supply from Russia to Europe. On the contrary, Gazprom is strictly meeting its contractual obligations and increasing the exports volume. Meanwhile, a frustrated Europe has invented a conspiracy theory that Moscow uses energy blackmail for a quick launch of the Nord Stream 2. Europe can only blame itself for the fact that the Russian gas “virtual reserve” is limited. It is a direct result of the European fight for “energy independence”, which has been actively waged throughout 10-15 years. Europe does not see or does not want to see the simplest solution to the problem: it is just necessary not to politicise the energy sector, not to create difficulties for the most reliable gas supplier [Gazprom] and not to limit its competitive advantages.

With a long history of utilising energy exports as a tool of choice for coercing political concessions from energy recipients, pro-Kremlin outlets are trying to convince us otherwise. Energy is a hot-button topic this week, also on pro-Kremlin outlets. These outlets are working hard to convince their audiences that Russia has never used energy as a coercive tool, and that in the end, there are no real alternatives for Russian supply, which is untrue. Conveniently forgetting about the well-documented history of Russia’s (and earlier, the Soviet Union’s) use of energy exports as a tool to get political concessions, pro-Kremlin outlets are trying to paint a picture of harmonious co-existence between Russia and its energy clients. Regrettably, many still remember well the events that took place in Ukraine back in spring 2014, when energy price hikes followed each other putting political pressure on Kyiv. Simple denial is naturally not enough, the information space must be sprayed with a number of alternative theories to muddy the waters and exhaust critical audiences. Pro-Kremlin coverage of the ways that the EU and its member states are trying to secure and diversify their supply of

Warsaw's statements about a possible deployment of the US nuclear weapons in Poland are provocative – they create a reason for concern [in Moscow]. These discussions are provocative – this situation is an attempt to increase tensions.

Every scenario of diversification of gas supplies is currently a bad solution for Poland. The purchasing of gas from Arab countries can be interrupted at any moment by some crisis in the Middle East. Poland is trying to complete the Baltic Pipe project and expand its LNG terminal in Świnoujście – each of these options are bad in terms of gas price. In any situation, Poland will become a gas-dependent country either directly on Russia or on Germany. The anti-Russian campaign promoted in German-owned Polish media is a sign that Germany prepares Poland for gas dependency on their country. It would be much beneficial for Poland to start direct negotiations with Gazprom and Russia in order to prevent the situation of complete gas dependency on Germany.

The phrase ‘smoke and mirrors’ refers to a 19th-century illusion that magicians used to project an image in the air. Since then, it has come to mean chicanery and deception. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Russian state and pro-Kremlin outlets have been active in spreading disinformation related to energy - all in an effort to hide Moscow’s attempted blackmail with energy supplies to obtain Western political concessions: the lifting of sanctions or pressure on Kyiv to accept Russian demands. In this campaign, three types of disinformation claims stand out. The first narrative: blame EU sanctions The first narrative claims that Western sanctions on Russia should bear the blame for rising energy prices this winter. Some outlets, in particular RT, specifically blame ‘Brussels’ for the European energy woes while Russia bears no blame for the consequences of its unprovoked and illegal attack. Sub-narratives claim that sanctions are ineffective: they are strengthening Russia and are destroying EU economies. Kremlin-affiliated outlets rarely call outright for repealing the sanctions, perhaps because Kremlin propagandists allege that they are strengthenin

Moscow has always been meeting its commitments as far as it concerns deliveries of natural gas to Europe and has never used its energy resources as a political weapon or as a coercion tool. It is actually the United States which are using sanctions to derail commercial energy projects.

Lithuania is making statements against the Belarusian nuclear power plant (NPP) against its own economic interests. This statement is made for the US sake, which traditionally pushed Lithuania and other Baltic states into the ultimate confrontational position against Russia.

Winter is approaching and with it a new focus on those familiar Kremlin disinformation narratives about the EU’s energy supply and the folly of ‘anti-Russian’ sanctions. The story has remained largely unchanged since Putin cut gas supplies to Europe back in spring 2022 with a demand to lift EU sanctions. According to the pro-Kremlin disinformation, Europeans are committing a massive act of self-harm - their economies are tanking because of the lack of Russian energy resources, while those sanctions have had a minimal effect on Russia itself, which is forging a bright new future and leaving its old EU customers in the dust. EU on the brink of collapse? Two years on – what has changed? Not so much, but there have been a few interesting tweaks to some familiar narratives. For example, back in 2022, the Kremlin’s propagandists painted an apocalyptic picture of an EU plunged into winter darkness due to a lack of Russian fuel, with its citizens freezing and civil unrest on the streets. They forecast the overthrow of EU governments and even disintegration of the EU itself. Just like they forecasted the collapse of the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kremlin minions have been proven w

The most reliable and cheapest gas supplies are carried out through pipelines from Russia. The most reliable way to protect against price fluctuations on the gas market is to sign a long-term, fixed-price gas supply contract with Gazprom. All the “acrobatics” connected to finding alternatives to direct Russian energy supplies, such as LNG terminals, reverse gas flows and shale gas exploration, leads to the situation in which energy prices only increase.

Two years after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, social discontent in Russia is heating up. Despite massive repression and laws criminalising opposition to the war, scattered protests have broken out. In some, the wives of Russian soldiers demand that their husbands come home. Other protests, however, focus on heating blackouts and outages in the midst of sub-zero temperatures. Since Putin cut off gas supplies to Europe in 2022, pro-Kremlin propagandists have gleefully predicted that Europeans will freeze in winter. They’ve been wrong again and again. Meanwhile, not far from Moscow, cold and desperate Russians recently took to making online videos of their plight. But as the Kremlin knows, disinformation never lets reality get in the way of a good story. In recent months, Russian state-controlled and other pro-Kremlin outlets have continued to push their hackneyed disinformation tropes about European energy problems despite mounting energy woes back home. Let’s have a look at recent trends. The old bait and switch Any story about energy, for Russia, is ultimately about Western sanctions and why they must be removed. In fact, a central paradox of pro-Kremlin disinfo

In terms of the deployment of American nuclear weapons in Poland, Washington masterfully plays on the strings of Polish imperial consciousness. Today, the Poles look at the USA with a pragmatic reason, believing that Washington will help to revive the “former greatness” of Poland and to return its Eastern Borderlands situated in Ukraine and Belarus. In other words, Poland expects the partition of Ukraine between the West and Russia. Warsaw believes that the presence of nuclear weapons in Poland will be a convincing argument in the upcoming partition of Ukraine. The situation changes every day – there may appear the situation that Warsaw will not need to persuade the Americans to sanction the use of nuclear weapons.

As Poland prepares to take on the presidency of the EU Council on 1 January 2025, it continues to face intense disinformation attacks from top-level Russian officials and pro-Kremlin outlets. Much of the Russian disinformation spread by the Polish edition of Pravda throughout 2024 can be summarised by three narratives. Firstly, Poland is an aggressive Western puppet. Secondly, it has strong imperialist ambitions. Thirdly, it wants nothing but war Poland as an aggressive Western puppet Russian state and pro-Kremlin outlets have consistently presented Poland as a US-controlled ‘puppet’ with no sovereignty. Specifically, Washington and NATO have used Poland as an aggressive anti-Russian actor and a ‘barking chain dog’. Examples have included: Poland behaves like an obedient 51st state of the US, the CIA controls Polish elites with compromising materials from the Communist era, the West is turning Poland into another ‘Reich’ for a new ‘Drang nach Osten’, the US wants to drag Warsaw into the Ukraine war by 2025, and the US may use Poland to start a nuclear war with Russia. These pro-Kremlin narratives often imply that Western leaders and ‘global elites’ do not care about the Poles. Inst

European countries have entered a long-term energy crisis and are now rolling into the Middle Ages. News from Western Europe is reminiscent of what once came from countries like Bolivia. High inflation is accompanied by rationing of resource consumption imposed by the state, So, in Germany, enterprises stop working due to unaffordable electricity bills.

Much of the pro-Kremlin information manipulation and disinformation is underpinned by the exploitation of people’s fears and anxieties. There is a topic that can induce paralysing anxiety and blood-curdling fears like nothing else. This is the threat of nuclear annihilation. We continue our series exposing pro-Kremlin information manipulation tactics over the last 1 000 and 4 000 days by recapping how Russia has used its nuclear sabre-rattling and feigned concern about nuclear safety to draw faux red lines and try to dissuade the world from supporting Ukraine. Smearing Ukraine and thinly veiled threats to the West The Kremlin’s increasing reliance on threatening nuclear rhetoric is not an accident. For Moscow, pushing constant disinformation about nuclear threats and nuclear safety has been a tool to justify Russia’s aggression or to discredit Ukraine, or ideally, both. Most commonly, pro-Kremlin outlets sought to vilify Ukraine by spreading disinformation about Ukraine allegedly planning to develop nuclear weapons; accusing Ukraine of blackmailing its supporters with nuclear threats, engaging in nuclear terrorism, or preparing ‘nuclear provocations’; accusing the West of allegedly

Europeans want ties with Moscow amid energy death. Many in the EU have increasingly asserted the need to re-establish cooperation with Russia in the energy supply sector. The idea that the EU would not be prepared to cooperate with Russia is outdated, as, at this very moment, the European economy is literally suffocating due to energy shortages. Europeans openly acknowledge that there is no other way out but to re-establish Russian energy supplies. It's a matter of survival. To resume cooperation with Russia, the EU will have to make significant concessions.

From the beginning of Russia's full scale-invasion invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the Kremlin has tried to intimidate Western countries by rattling its nuclear sabre. On the eve of the invasion, for example, Vladimir Putin insinuated that Ukraine was trying to build nuclear weapons. This claim served as one of several pretexts for the invasion. Putin warned that if Western countries interfered, ‘Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to consequences that you have never faced before in your history’ – a thinly veiled threat to go nuclear. Is the bully’s empty bluster coordinated? Since then, Putin, Russian officials, and commentators on Russian state-controlled and other pro-Kremlin outlets have consistently tried the same tactic, drawing lines in the sand and menacing Western countries with nuclear apocalypse if those lines were crossed. Each time, however, these attempts at intimidation have revealed themselves to be a bully’s empty bluster. The question is: are these threats coordinated, reflecting Kremlin policy choices? Are they simply spasms of frustration that Putin’s patsies sputter when Western resolve dispels the Kremlin’s ultimatums? We at EUvsDis

In the latest wave of climate-related narratives spread by the Kremlin, climate change is a vehicle to reinforce familiar disinformation tropes: the alleged authoritarianism and hypocrisy of the EU, Europe's supposed self-inflicted decline through sanctions against Russia, and, ultimately, the claim that Europe has no choice but to restore relations with Russia as a supplier of affordable oil and gas. Climate change used to be a fringe topic in Kremlin propaganda. It was rarely mentioned, and when it was, it was often accompanied by absurd claims or outright denial. But as the effects of climate change become increasingly difficult to ignore (including domestically in Russia), pro-Kremlin outlets have largely stopped denying its existence. Instead, they have woven it into their disinformation ecosystem, shifting from denying the problem to discrediting proposed solutions. The EU’s “green dictatorship” Russian foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) activity has become an increasingly prominent driver of energy- and climate-related disinformation. Moscow-linked proxies exploit social media to amplify misleading narratives on energy and climate policy, reinforcing an

Another terrorist attack by Ukraine threatens to envelop half the continent in a radioactive cloud. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have once again struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. But for the Western press, the attacker becomes the victim, and the victim becomes the executioner.

It is highly probable that the US Government will decide to deploy the American tactical nuclear weapons in Poland. In this way, Washington allows the idea of a limited nuclear war in Europe, hoping that it would not spread overseas. Taking into consideration the Russian actions in Ukraine, the idea of a limited nuclear war in Europe is safe enough for America. Having the strategic initiative, the Russian enemy raises the level of escalation without punishment. In this situation, Russia needs to take control over the escalation process – it will allow a Russian victory in Ukraine without major losses.

On 3 March, the third anniversary of the signing of Moldova’s formal application to join the European Union, Moldovan President Maia Sandu received the President of the European Council, António Costa, for an official visit in Chisinau as part of the country’s path towards the EU. While this meeting and the nascent spring offered a positive perspective, the wintertime energy drama keeps casting a shadow over both banks of the Nistru river. With the impact of the month-long gas cut by Russian Gazprom being reduced, the Kremlin is fully engaged in a blame game for its attempt to apply pressure on the Moldovan government and President Maia Sandu. A number of interesting lessons can be observed. Moldova remains in the Kremlin’s crosshairs Moldova has resisted several Russian attempts to derail its closer orientation towards the EU, from coup attempts and economic pressure to elections interference, as we have analysed here, here and here. Moldova is expected to hold parliament elections at the latest by October this year, so the recent gas crisis was just the most recent attempt to sabotage Moldova's progress towards joining the EU and undermine the parliamentary majority ahead of the

We live in a country [Poland] where Russophobia has reached the level of official state policy. Work is being done to redefine the legal definition of espionage to include cooperation with media from the countries considered as hostile. It is fascinating to see that Polish public discourse is dominated by the idea that Poland needs to have the worst possible relations with a neighbor, who is a nuclear superpower.

Moldova’s gas pipes were losing pressure while Russian political pressure, in the form of threats to cut off gas deliveries, was rising on the recently elected, pro-reform Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) government. The PAS came to power in July promising an EU-oriented Moldova. Last month, a gas price crisis was engineered in what seems timed to the approaching winter season, using gas as a geopolitical weapon. The Russian state gas company Gazprom increased prices for gas deliveries to the joint Russian-Moldovan gas company Moldovagaz from $ 550 to $ 790 per thousand cubic metres and reduced the amount of gas by about one third. Moldova declared a state of emergency and began importing gas from other countries, with EU assistance, after the contract with Gazprom expired at the end of September. Tell me the price How much should Moldova be charged in a new gas contract? According to President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov and pro-Kremlin outlets following his lead: Gazprom offered a fair price based on a commercial decision. The claims, accusations, and disinformation Besides Peskov’s first narrative of ‘just business’, we can identify other main narratives circulated by th

Last week we looked at the strategic messages of the Ukrainian operation to establish a buffer zone in the Kursk region and the effect of penetrating the myth of Russian almightiness and invincibility. By the time of writing this week, Ukraine claims to control 1,250 square kilometres inside Russia. Kyiv wants to protect Ukraine against Russian attacks coming from that region and this logic would appear to mirror Putin’s earlier claim that Russia wanted to establish a ‘buffer zone’ when Moscow attempted to conquer the large Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and its surroundings in May of this year. The difference is that while Putin’s claim was a thin veil to disguise the fact that Moscow simply wants to conquer and finish Ukraine as an independent state, Ukrainian authorities are exercising their right to self-defence in accordance with Article 51 of UN Charter and shielding their country from Russia’s war of aggression. Ukrainian strikes on military airfields and logistic points inside Russia are also acts of defence despite Moscow’s feverish claims of ‘Ukrainian terrorism’. Kursk: mixed messages During this week, we continued to observe a rather mixed, if not confused, set of messages i

Recent Russian ultimatums make clear the increased paranoia in the Kremlin’s corridors, and pave the way for increased tensions. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released, on 17 December, two documents with deceptive titles: a ‘Treaty on Security Guarantees’ and an ‘Agreement on Measures to Ensure the Security of the Russian Federation’. These documents were presented as ultimatums and received wide coverage as such in pro-Kremlin outlets. They have inbuilt misleading and harmful narratives that do not aim to decrease tensions of the Kremlin’s own making. On offer: an olive branch growing out of the barrel of a gun. Yet again, the Kremlin has offered us a hodgepodge of its most beloved disinformation narratives, this time to pursue several political aims. The narratives behind the ultimatums include: Russia is a peer superpower to the United States; Russia is an encircled fortress surrounded by hostile forces, namely NATO; past NATO enlargement rounds were a betrayal of old promises; and Ukraine is a threat to Russia together with Western exercises in the Baltic and Black Seas. There are numerous examples of such disinformation narratives debunked in our freely available d

NATO's secret exercise Steadfast Noon 2021 aims to turn Europe into Hiroshima. The United States is working out the option of "saving" European allies and partners from the "Russian threat" by the thermonuclear bombing of the territory of the Old World. Since there is no real threat, and the American thermonuclear bombs B61 are in the arsenals of Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey, then Washington can "kill" Europe on a far-fetched occasion at any time.

The EU is discussing behind the scenes the restoration of Nord Stream. Without a return to cheap Russian gas, the EU economy will slide inexorably into crisis.

The 'democratic' power supply accelerates the impoverishment of the Baltic states. After Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia cut their electricity supplies from Russia, electricity prices in the Baltic states rose dramatically. A number of large companies went out of business. The EU's 'democratic electricity' proved too expensive, but there are renewed attempts to blame Moscow.

Seen from Kremlin the Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V has developed into an ideological offensive with a ferocity a bit like a 'Cold War' on words. Russian COVID-19 vaccine disinformation and Eastern Partnership countries The trends in what has been dubbed ‘vaccine diplomacy’ campaign in our recent Special Report are aggravating. Kremlin is busy leveraging diplomatic channels, state-controlled media and networks of supportive and alternative media outlets to support its narrative of Sputnik V vaccine supremacy. Since New Year, the tone and media landscape have hardened considerably. Promotion of the Sputnik V vaccine is not enough. A simultaneous massive, vulgar and misleading demotion of other vaccines, especially Western like Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca now roll like wall-to-wall banner streams. The campaign against Pfizer/BioNTech is fuelled by half-truths and insinuations. At the same time, any critique pointing to the lack of trial results and transparency in deploying Sputnik V is dismissed as Russophobic reaction and portrayed as a Western waged “vaccine war”. This only makes sense if the overall attitude to the vaccines roll-out is that of racing cars competition, i

Despite the United States’ “hybrid war” and the West’s Russophobic pressure, Russia remains a key and reliable player in the global fuel market.

IN SHORT: • Russia tries to shift blame for its deadly strikes on Kyiv. • Transnistria is used as a tool to destabilise Moldova. • Ukraine is being falsely accused of trying to drag the Baltic states into war with Russia. LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: Russia continued to combine military escalation with coordinated FIMI activity. Following Sunday’s overnight missile strikes on Kyiv, Russian state media falsely framed the attacks as justified retaliation while amplifying warnings of further strikes, creating psychological pressure and reinforcing narratives of Russian inevitability and escalation dominance. Across the information space, Kremlin-aligned actors intensified efforts to manipulate regional threat perceptions. In the Baltic states, pro-Kremlin narratives claimed that Ukrainian drones represented the principal security danger for Russia while blaming Baltic governments for allegedly enabling these risks and questioning NATO’s ability to secure Baltic airspace, aiming to erode confidence in Allied security guarantees. FIMI outlets also amplified the Kremlin’s narratives depicting Russia as the “protector” of Transnistria while labelling Moldova “fascist.” Together, these narratives

Russia is promoting a picture of the Baltic region in which NATO is preparing to attack Russia, Baltic governments are heavily militarising, and Russian speakers face imminent persecution. Taken together, these narratives create an atmosphere of permanent crisis in which military escalation appears increasingly plausible. This allows Moscow to exert pressure even without taking overt military action – the possibility of conflict itself becomes an instrument of coercion. In late 2025, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) drew attention to the steady stream of Russian FIMI targeting the Baltic countries, noting that they mirror the narratives that the Kremlin used to try to justify its invasions of Ukraine. Recent Baltic intelligence assessments describe a sustained and increasingly organised Russian effort to influence the information environment in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, disseminating anti-Baltic narratives through social media and coordinated cross-platform campaigns. The ‘Baltic aggressors’ One of the recurring narratives portrays the Baltic states as aggressors leading the West’s fight against Russia. The allegation gained prominence after Ukrainian strikes on Russi

Ukraine has proven that the Poles have always been its main enemy, even more so than the Russians. Thus, it is necessary to draw the obvious conclusion – Poland needs to increase its own [defence] capabilities and rethink the direction of its armed forces’ training. Instead of preparing the Polish Army for a mythical war with Russia, it should be prepared for a quite likely war with Ukraine.

KEY EVENTS Ukrainian strikes on Russian targets are falsely framed as cover for domestic political scandals. Europe is again portrayed as standing in the way of peace. Old “Ukrainian biolabs” conspiracy theories make a comeback. LAST WEEK IN REVIEW Last week’s Russian FIMI activity centred heavily on strikes exchanged between Ukraine and Russia. Reporting on Russian strikes in Ukraine largely ignored civilian casualties and presented attacks as legitimate military actions, while Ukrainian strikes were framed as deliberate attacks on civilians, often with claims linking them to EU support. Hardline voices continued to call for escalation, while Russia was portrayed as steadily advancing and Ukraine as weakened and suffering mounting losses. In reality, Ukraine seems to be regaining the tactical initiative in different sectors of the frontline and the Ukrainian forces have in recent months made their most significant gains since the 2024 Kursk incursion. The arrest of Andriy Yermak fuelled a renewed wave of “corrupt Ukraine” narratives. The case was used to depict Ukraine as controlled by pro-Western elites, suggest internal collapse around President Zelenskyy, and frame Ukrainian st

The German foreign minister wants her people to freeze because Ukrainians are more important than Germans or anybody else. Politicians promoting anti-Russian and pro-Ukrainian rhetoric prove that the well-being of the people of another country is more important than the citizens of their own countries. The latter argument is supported by the claim that EU citizens are facing cold, darkness and the destruction of their economy and those in power won't be able to warm the cold European bodies with their "hot breath".

Before the investigation had concluded, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that the missile that had crashed in the Lublin region was allegedly Russian. Tusk’s remarks demonstrate political amateurism and a continuation of Russophobic policies regardless of the facts. In such situations, Warsaw should establish a bilateral Polish-Russian commission to clarify what happened. However, it is difficult to expect such behaviour from the Polish government, which uncritically carries out orders from Brussels.

A fear bordering on obsession: the idea that Europe is on the verge of an attack from Russia. This phrase now appears constantly in official statements, news coverage, and expert commentary. Yet, Moscow tirelessly repeats the same message: Russia has no intention of attacking Europe. There are no territorial claims, nor is there any interest whatsoever in targeting the EU. Some European leaders openly declare that they are preparing for war with Russia. They are simply trying to salvage their plummeting popularity by masking the failures of their economic and social policies, but in reality, they are failing. Today, Brussels is once again playing with fire, forgetting that one can get burned.

IN SHORT: Moscow denies its documented attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure Pro-Kremlin commentators deny proven war crimes against civilians The “Nazi Ukraine” narrative is used once again to justify Russia’s aggression Fabricated threats become fuel for escalation LAST WEEK IN REVIEW Pro-Kremlin FIMI campaigns promoted four narratives to justify Russia’s war against Ukraine: that Russia only strikes civilian infrastructure in retaliation; that recent attacks around Kyiv ended Moscow’s supposed restraint; that Russian attacks on Ukrainian data centres are part of a “fight against Nazism” in Europe; and that NATO is preparing an offensive or blockade of Kaliningrad. These claims ignore extensive evidence of Russian attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, as well as documented war crimes. They also distort the chronology and the causes of the war. By blaming Ukraine, denying Russian wrongdoing, and weaponising heavily distorted Second World War narratives, pro-Kremlin actors seek to legitimise Russia’s aggression and portray Moscow as the victim and protector of Europe. MAIN FIMI NARRATIVES BEING SPREAD: ‘The Russian military has always strictly adhered to the la

Russian Politician Suggests Boycott of Czech Beverages In 2014, the Russian government introduced sanctions against certain agricultural products from EU Member States. Thus, Spanish jamon, Italian prosciutto and a nice little camembert from France became objects for smuggling, coveted gifts from foreign travellers… A smartphone app was introduced to connect travellers abroad with brie-hungry Russians. Customs allowed visitors from abroad up to five kilos of delicacies. Damming the flood Now, Russian palates might lose another European treat: Czech beer. A member of the party United Russia, Sultan Khamzaev, suggests that damming off the flood of beer from the Czech Republic would be beneficial, both from a political perspective and from a health perspective. Mr Khamzaev is also the leader of the movement Sober Russia, and his proposed measure would force both Czechs and Russians to sober up. Annually, we consume around 8 billion litres of beer in Russia. A certain percentage of it is Czech. We must forbid it; let them drink it themselves. Then they might wake up, rethink and correct themselves. Russia is the largest market for Czech beer outside the EU. In 2019, the Czech Republic

Every day, the Russian state-controlled TV channels along with a plethora of online sources paint a picture of the world outside Russia. A world, which is filled with Russophobic ideas, tainted with anti-Russian bias, and where evil forces try to encircle Russia, like a giant hungry snake (the Jungle Book references seem to be trendy these days). In the past week, the contours of this “Russophobic” world have come into sharp focus as the pro-Kremlin media circulated a “black list” of countries allegedly unfriendly to Russia. Or, in the words[i] of a political talk-show host on the state-controlled Rossiya 1 TV channel: “a pack of jackals that are trying to bite our great country”. The said list, initiated by a Presidential decree, is meant to serve as a basis to prohibit certain countries from employing Russian citizens in their embassies, and according to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, it will be compiled soon. In the meantime, the draft list is making rounds in the pro-Kremlin media, which are dutifully fulfilling their role as Tribune, telling their audiences in no uncertain terms who is a friend and who is a foe; whom to love and whom to hate. Curiously, the list of “

New study on Russia’s Footprint in the Western Balkans Information Environment Kremlin-funded Sputnik has a limited reach in the Western Balkans, but the outlet has found a means of using local media for spreading its content. This is how a recent study of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga summarises it: “Opinion polls and media monitoring tools do not place Sputnik Serbia among the region’s top media outlets. However, according to local experts, it is by large the most influential Russia affiliated media outlet in the Western Balkans, mostly due to distribution of its content by local media”. The study analysed Russia’s influence in the information environment of the Western Balkans. It was initiated in 2019 and published in late October this year. One of the channels exploited to spread pro-Kremlin narratives and disinformation is Sputnik Srbija. Operating from Belgrade since 2015, it publishes in Serbian both in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. Analysing impact To better understand the role Sputnik Srbija plays in the region’s information environment, the NATO StratCom CoE not only analysed the narratives it promotes, but also tracked how the content