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Russia Revives Propaganda Used Before Invasions of Ukraine and Georgia, Targeting Baltics Next
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russia is reviving the same “well-worn” propaganda narratives against the Baltic states that it previously used to justify invasions of other former Soviet republics, according to a new report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) released on October 14.
“Kremlin officials continue to apply the same narratives to the Baltic states that Russia has used to justify its invasions of former Soviet states in the past three decades,” ISW analysts wrote.
Those narratives include claims about “liberating brotherly peoples,” granting them “additional rights and freedoms,” and protecting Russian-speaking communities.
Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said on October 14 that authorities in Latvia are “persecuting” Russian speakers, suggesting that Moscow has a duty to defend its “compatriots” in the Baltic states.
Leonid Slutsky, head of Russia’s far-right Liberal Democratic Party, echoed that sentiment, claiming that Russians in Latvia are part of the so-called Russkiy Mir (“Russian World”).
The Kremlin’s “Russian World” ideology is a deliberately vague concept that President Vladimir Putin has defined as encompassing the territories of the Kyivan Rus, the Kingdom of Muscovy, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and modern-day Russia — along with anyone who feels a “spiritual or cultural kinship” with the country.
For decades, Moscow has used the idea of defending “compatriots abroad” as a pretext for military interventions in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. ISW analysts warn that the Kremlin’s renewed rhetoric about Russians in the Baltics may serve as part of a long-term effort to justify potential future aggression against NATO.
Russia’s current rhetoric toward the Baltic states closely mirrors the propaganda it used ahead of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and earlier operations in Crimea and the Donbas.
Before launching its assault, Moscow repeatedly claimed that Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine faced “genocide” and that its intervention was necessary to “protect” them—a narrative widely condemned by the international community as false and fabricated. Analysts note that this same justification, centered on defending “oppressed compatriots,” was used to prepare domestic audiences for war and to frame aggression as a form of humanitarian intervention.
Earlier, Latvia introduced stricter residency rules for Russian citizens, requiring 841 individuals to leave the country by October 13.
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