Information Wars in the Baltic States

“Russia’s malign influence in Europe isn’t only visible in the military forces it has repeatedly sent across its neighbors borders. It is also evident in the information arena. This book shows how Russia has subverted media outlets, spreads disinformation, and promotes the Kremlin’s geopolitical interests. This book is crucial for understanding contemporary information warfare, the threat Russia poses, and how the Baltic states are responding.” —Chris Miller, Assistant Professor, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, USA “This timely volume explores how information warfare in the Baltic states could be a precursor to armed conflict. It shows how Russian disinformation targets different Baltic media markets and tests the effectiveness that various organizations, including the ‘elves’ of Debunk EU, state broadcasters in Russian, and the information warfare experts at NATO have used to blunt its impact. Required reading for understanding the information ‘battlespace’ in Europe.” —Mitchell A. Orenstein, Professor of Russian and East European Studies, University of Pennsylvania, USA “This book is an exceptionally timely collection of analyses from journalists, academics, military and media experts, all steeped in Russia’s asymmetric information war.” —Marco Werman, Journalist and Host of public radio's The World This edited volume, featuring accomplished scholars, is about the information wars in the Baltic states, a battle that pits Russia against the West with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as sites of contention for great power politics. Chapters address responses from titular populations, local Russian speakers, national governments, activists, journalists, and NATO, as well as the impact of Russian foreign policy on media. Janis Chakars is Associate Professor of Communication and Digital Media at Neumann University, USA. Indra Ekmanis is Baltic Sea Fellow and Editor of the Baltic Initiative at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, USA.