russian aggression. russian propaganda. Telegram. NATO Baltic states

And the main platform is Telegram. Against the backdrop of NATO's statements about possible russian aggression against the Alliance countries within 4-5 years, russian information preparation is already underway on Telegram channels in Poland, the Baltic states and Germany. A brief article about the research by Detector Media and Important Stories.

So, russian propaganda is already promoting the following narratives to Western audiences: https://ms.detector.media/propaganda-ta-vplivi/post/38073/2025-06-14-ostannie-myrne-lito-rosiyska-propaganda-pro-bezpekovi-zagrozy-dlya-polshchi-nimechchyny-ta-derzhav-baltii/
● NATO, Poland, and the Baltic states are portrayed as “provocateurs” and “aggressors.”● russia is portrayed as a “defender” that is forced to respond.● Ukraine is no longer the centre of attention; attention is shifting to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland.● The Baltic armies are portrayed as weak, corrupt and ineffective, Kaliningrad is portrayed as a springboard in case of war,● The migrant crisis is portrayed as the West's fault,● A nuclear strike is portrayed as ‘acceptable self-defence’.
An analysis of nearly 19,000 posts showed that only 6% relate to security issues, but these are the most emotional and aggressive. Telegram is the main platform for russian special services: fakes, memes, pseudo-experts, investigations — everything is mixed into one stream. This creates the impression that ‘everyone thinks this way.’ The goal is simple: to sow fear and despair and convince people that ‘resistance is futile,’ ‘our own people won't help,’ ‘NATO is a problem,’ and russia is ‘strength and order.’
Telegram has been at the service of russian special services since its inception. In particular, the provider company GNM (Global Network Management) has an office and a team in russia and cooperates with a secret division of putin's dictatorial administration, which is engaged in mass surveillance of russians.
Key findings from the investigation by Important Stories journalists:• Telegram's protocol does not protect against surveillance even through secret chats, meaning that russian special services can monitor Telegram users around the world;• Leaked documents from the russian FSS indicate that Telegram may be a ‘Trojan horse’ that allows special services to control traffic;• Telegram messages are decrypted and stored on servers, not on devices, as is the case with WhatsApp and Signal.
More details here: https://storage.googleapis.com/istories/en/stories/2025/06/10/telegram-fsb/index.html
At the beginning of the year, russia launched a powerful attack on NATO in the media space. In particular, the key narrative was: ‘NATO poses a threat to free shipping in the Baltic Sea.’
In reality, the main factor of instability in the Baltic region is russia itself, which carries out sabotage and provocations there. Even before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, russian aircraft regularly violated the airspace of the Baltic countries. And at the end of 2024, underwater cables in the Baltic Sea belonging to Finland, Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were damaged. These incidents were recognised as outright sabotage and a hybrid attack by russia on NATO countries. In particular, the Finnish government stated that the tanker Orel S was part of a ‘shadow fleet’ helping moscow to sell oil on global markets in violation of international sanctions. Norway also seized a russian ship in late January 2025 on suspicion of causing ‘serious damage’ to an underwater cable between Latvia and Sweden.
The attack on NATO and the Baltic states is no coincidence, as almost 50% of the kremlin's ‘shadow’ fleet is based in russian Baltic ports. If Western countries tighten controls, Russia will lose a lot of money that is used to finance the war, so russian terrorists are threatening the Baltic states in order to influence decisions regarding the shadow fleet. 
The Russian media has even resorted to hysteria: ‘NATO's Baltic policy could lead to nuclear war.’
Again, this is an attempt to intensify accusations that NATO is a factor of instability. In addition, russian propaganda is distracting attention from russia's responsibility for destabilising actions in the region. This is an attempt to shift public attention from the crimes of russia's ‘shadow fleet’ for violating maritime conventions, laws and safety regulations to a more ‘frightening’ topic.
During the NATO Baltic Sea Allies Summit on 14 January 2025, all participating states issued a joint statement that "Russia's shadow fleet poses a particular threat to maritime and environmental security in the Baltic Sea and around the world. Targeted sabotage by the Kremlin also threatens underwater infrastructure and increases the risks associated with chemical munitions. In addition, russia's shadow fleet significantly supports the financing of illegal aggression against Ukraine."
"NATO must be prepared for all types of threats from Russia, especially this year's 'Zapad 2025' military exercises", Polish President Andrzej Duda said at a meeting of the National Security Council. He recalled that the previous 'Zapad 2021' manoeuvres four years ago were the impetus for russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine.
Finally, NATO is a defensive alliance whose purpose is to preserve peace and protect the independence, security and territorial integrity of its members. NATO is a collective defence system under which member countries agree to defend each other in response to an attack by any external force. NATO has never attacked individual states and has no plans to do so. 
Based on materials from EuVsDisinfo.
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