January 2025.
As part of the program Regional Initiative for combating disinformation “Western Balkans Combatting disinformation Center: Exposing malicious influences through fact-checking and Analytical Journalism“, we present you a new analysis of fake news and disinformation narratives.
The West has accused Russia of a state of emergency in the Baltic to strengthen its presence
In recent years, following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, relations between Russia and Western countries have drastically worsened, with ongoing tensions. The rivalry is also evident in other areas of strategic importance to various parties. One such region is the Baltic Sea, which has also become a focal point of increasingly frequent disputes and incidents.
The end of 2024 was marked by a series of incidents in which several telecommunications and other underwater cables in the Baltic Sea were destroyed or damaged, mostly connecting Finland and Estonia, as well as Finland and Germany. In January, there was a repeat of the incident involving the damage to an underwater cable in the southern part of the Baltic Sea, and in the following days, Norwegian authorities detained the crew of a Russian ship due to suspicions of involvement in the incident.
Pro-government and pro-Russian media in Serbia have increasingly focused on this topic, promoting anti-Western, i.e., anti-NATO narratives. The daily newspaper Politika published a story titled “The West has accused Russia of a state of emergency in the Baltic to strengthen its presence.”
The article quotes a statement from Vladimir Putin’s close associate and a high-ranking Russian security official, Nikolai Patrushev, who emphasized that “the West accused Russia of severing underwater cables without any investigation… using it as an excuse to strengthen its military presence in the Baltic Sea.” The article also highlights Patrushev’s commentary on NATO’s plans to bolster its forces in the Baltic, noting that “Western countries are clearly interested in prolonging hostilities.”
Sputnik Serbia reported on recent events in the Baltic Sea with an anti-NATO perspective, exemplified by an article titled “NATO seeks military strengthening: Russia believes the Alliance is behind the sabotage in the Baltic Sea.” The article highlights a statement from a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament, who claims that “Russia has no interest in carrying out sabotage in the Baltic Sea, but NATO might be interested in sabotage to strengthen its forces near Russia’s maritime borders.” It is added that “this does not give Russia any advantages, but if the explosions are carried out by NATO member states with the aim of blaming Russia for them, everything immediately makes sense.”
Through these articles, an interpretation is presented that the “global goal (of the West) is for the Baltic Sea to become an internal sea of NATO.” In line with this, Informer reports foreign views suggesting that “there are six potential flashpoints in Eastern Europe that could escalate right before our eyes,” and that one of the possible points of future military conflict between the West and Russia could be over control of the Baltic region.
The increasingly frequent incidents of damage to underwater cables in the Baltic Sea are drawing significant international attention and are an inevitable factor in the new sparks between Russia and Western countries. However, at this moment, when Baltic and Nordic countries are conducting investigations, including several Russian vessels, no relevant evidence has been presented to support the rhetorical accusations made by Russian officials that these are deliberate acts of sabotage aimed at justifying increased NATO presence.
Author: Igor Mirosavljević
