Russian fake republic raises concerns in Estonia

TT

Published 18.52

 

             

              

              

            Here is the border between West and East. To the left of the Narva River is Estonia, the EU and                  NATO. To the right is Russia. Archive photo from 2023.

            1 / 3Photo: Wiktor Nummelin/TT

The authorities believe it is fake – but are still forced to deal with information about a pro-Russian breakaway republic in eastern Estonia.

The consequences could be severe.

Russian-language chat rooms and online forums in Estonia have suddenly been filled with messages that the People's Republic of Narva is about to break away from the rest of Estonia.

This makes Mayor Katri Raik sigh heavily.

- It is completely fake, complete nonsense. I am forced to scold anyone who makes a big deal out of this, Raik tells the news site Politico Europe.

Like in Ukraine?

At the same time, it is no wonder that the attention is getting great. The parallels are easy to draw to Crimea and the easternmost regions of Ukraine, where sudden calls for pro-Russian breakaway republics preceded the Russian takeover from 2014 onwards.

Many have since feared similar demands in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, in particular.

Estonia's security police, Kapo, still does not believe that state Russian actors are behind the people's republic fantasies in Narva. Instead, he points the finger at individual Russian extreme nationalists.

- People are trying to appear more important than they are. It's a campaign in a make-believe world, Harrys Puusepp, head of department at Kapo, tells Politico.

"Good at propaganda"

The authorities are nevertheless forced to take the information seriously. Both Prime Minister Kristen Michal and Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna have condemned the online campaigns.

“We have seen this tactic from Russia before, in Estonia and elsewhere. A cheap way to provoke,” Tsahkna wrote on X in mid-March.

Narva is one of Estonia’s most ethnically Russian cities, right next to the Russian border and 90 percent inhabited by Russian speakers.

Mayor Raik, however, dismisses the idea that there really is a broader desire to join its eastern neighbor.

She wishes people were better at determining what is true and what is not.

“Russia has always been good at propaganda. And it gets on my nerves when people don’t understand that,” Raik told Politico.