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| cies & Intentions Toward Specific European Countries, Hearing before the US. Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Marat. Reid Standish, ‘‘Russia’s Neighbors Respond to Putin’s Hybrid War ’’ Foreign Policy, Oct. 12, 2017. Baltic Centre for Media Excellence European Endowment for Democracy, 2017. Michael Weiss, The Baltic Elves Taking on Pro-Russian Trolls The Daily Beast, Mar. 20, 2016. suspended Sputnik’s domestic website (Sputniknews.lv) a few weeks after it was established, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman declaring that we don’t regard Sputnik as a credible media source but as something else a propaganda tool.’’ 590 Sputnik responded by placing its content under a com domain and accusing Latvia of attacking media freedom. 591 The Estonian government, while not censoring the activities of Kremlin-sponsored media outlets, has publicly stated that it does not recognize Sputnik as an independent media outlet and therefore its officials will not grant the organization any interviews. Estonia also established three Russian-language TV channels to provide alternate sources of news to its large Russian-speaking population a poll from 2016 showed that the stations had captured about 20 percent of that audience. 592 The Baltic states also have educational awareness programs that aim to counter the influence of Kremlin disinformation, such as a national information influence identification and analysis ecosystem project in Lithuania, which quickly noticed the fake story about the alleged rape of a teenage girl by a German soldier during a NATO exercise and worked to immediately debunk it. 593 Latvia’s ministries of defense and education have also paired up to improve their country’s school curriculum to emphasize critical thinking skills and media literacy. 594 Furthermore, the Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME), based in Latvia, serves as a hub for professional Russian-language journalism in the Baltics as well as the countries of the Eastern Partnership. The BCME also supports media literacy programs and research to better understand audiences that are most susceptible to propaganda. 595 In addition to counter-disinformation efforts by the state and the media, a network of hundreds of concerned citizens has sprung up in the Baltics (starting in Lithuania but later spreading to Latvia and Estonia, and even Finland) to fight against Kremlin-linked internet trolls. Styling themselves elves they push back against false comments on Facebook and on Lithuanian news websites, working not to promote their own propaganda but only to, in the words of their founder, expose the bullshit The elves have even taken their activities onto the street, counter-demonstrating at pro- Kremlin events, draped in EU and US. flags and wearing large smiles—thereby making it that much more difficult for Kremlin propagandists to get their desired photos and videos of spontaneous anti-Western protests. 596 Estonia has the best Russian counterintelligence program in Europe, according to journalist Edward Lucas, author of Deception: VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:06 Jan 09, 2018 Jkt PO 00000 Frm 00111 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\COMMITTEE PRINT 2018\HENRY\JAN. 9 REPORT FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER 106 Michael Weiss, The Estonian Spymasters Tallin’s Revolutionary Approach to Stopping Russian Spies Foreign Affairs, June 3, 2014. 598 Ibid. 599 ‘‘Annual Reviews Kaitsepolitseiamet, https://www.kapo.ee/en/content/annual-reviews.html visited on Dec. 31, 2017) Andrew Higgins, Tensions Surge in Estonia Amid a Russian Replay of Cold War Tactics The New York Times, Oct. 5, 2014. 601 Ibid. 602 Holger Roonemaa, These Cigarette Smugglers Are On The Frontlines Of Russia’s Spy Wars BuzzFeed News, Sept. 13, 2017. 603 Inga Springe & Sanita Jemberga, Sputniks Unknown Brother re:Balitca, Apr. 6, 2017, Download 0.63 Mb. Share with your friends:
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