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Paper short abstract:

The Baltic States’ expertise related to countering information warfare in its close neighborhood provides an opportunity to debunk misleading narratives that form African perceptions and the regional identities of both the Baltics and Africa of the war in Ukraine.

Paper long abstract:

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Russia’s rapid spread of disinformation and misinformation within African countries has become a prominent issue from the EU perspective. The Baltic States’ expertise related to countering information warfare in its close neighborhood provides an opportunity to debunk misleading narratives that form African perceptions and the regional identities of both the Baltics and Africa of the war in Ukraine.

Baltic CSO OSMOS has conducted an analysis to identify what types of narratives of political opinion influencers from Africa towards Russia’s aggression against Ukraine have been circulating on media platforms at the early stage of the war and why they have been so successful in shaping perceptions of the Russian-Ukraine war in Africa. OSMOS has collected and analyzed more than 100 messages ranging from expert opinion to civil society messages on media platforms to examine narratives of political opinion influencers that notably shape perceptions of African society. Nonetheless, it was necessary to include the analysis of Baltic political influencers’ reactions to their African partners’ perception towards Russia’s aggression.

This paper will focus on the analysis and categorization of specific messages from the Baltic perspective and will also dismantle misleading statements among African stakeholders that undermine Ukraine’s role without ignoring the Soviet Union's role in decolonization and Western nations' contradictory behavior. The study will also reveal the effects of disinformation such as decrease in social trust, democracy, and resilience which directly influence regional identities.