Over five episodes, we will look at the history of Russia’s information and influence operations, how they’ve evolved since the cold war, and the rapid intensification over the past decade. We’ll talk to the brave activists, journalists, and officials who are on the front lines defending the democratic world and our collective cognitive sovereignty against Russia’s information warfare.
In this episode, we’ll look at how our allies on NATO’s eastern flank have been the targets and victims of Russian operations for nearly a century. In this episode, Marcus Kolga travels to Tallin in Estonia to meet with Estonian Member of Parliament, Eerik-Niiles Kross, to talk about how his country has endured, how it continues to be targeted, and what we might learn from the Estonians. Eerik was the chief of Estonia’s intelligence services, and in 2008 he helped direct Georgia’s counter propaganda operations. During the Russian invasion in 2018 Politico named him to their list of most influential Europeans, calling him the Baltic James Bond. Marcus starts by asking Eerik about Russia’s decision to add him, Estonia’s Prime Minister, and other ministers to its entry ban list. The Kremlin justified this by falsely accusing them of persecuting Estonia’s Russian-speaking population, rewriting history, and promoting what it calls Russophobia—a historically familiar accusation recycled by the Kremlin against its challengers.
