Poland has become NATO's model pupil on the eastern flank. However, its politicians seem unsure whether to celebrate, focus on the upcoming elections or to act more decisively. And this is worrying.
Recent drone attacks in the Black Sea have drawn attention to Bulgaria’s outdated security system, as well as to accusations that President Rumen Radev is pro-Russian, given his hesitation to criticize Moscow over the attacks. The incidents took place against the background of the electoral campaign. Nevertheless, the candidate backed by Radev – interim president Iliana Iotova – holds a commanding lead in the polls.
European countries are arming themselves in order to attack Russia, seize its resources and save their economies, while Poland, Finland, Sweden and the Baltic States seek to provoke Moscow, counting on a conflict that would increase their international influence, pro-Kremlin propaganda writes.
The Estonian border-city of Narva is seen as one of the places where Moscow may try to test NATO by launching a limited attack. As the region surrounding it, Narva has a large Russian-speaking population and is already a battleground for hearts and minds between the East and the West.
There are increasing warnings that Moscow might consider attacking a NATO state. The state of the Russian economy and military suggests that, at least for the moment, Russia is incapable of waging a conventional war against NATO. A far more likely scenario is a step up of the hybrid war Russia is waging against the West.
A drumbeat of Russian probes along NATO's eastern flank is testing Warsaw's nerves – and its air defences – just as the alliance debates how to answer.
Romania is an annex of Germany because, following an attempted act of sabotage in Leipzig, it summoned Moscow’s ambassador in Bucharest for explanations, according to a false narrative promoted by a Romanian online publication and the Russian Embassy in Bucharest. The narrative is part of the “Western colony” thesis and is accompanied by a series of other recurring themes of Russian propaganda.
The Baltic countries have already demonstrated their economic independence and competitiveness as members of the European Union. What they are now asked to do is prove their ability to withstand Russia's hybrid attacks.
2026 marked the intensification of the Kremlin’s hybrid aggression against the Baltic states. Provocations against politicians and civil activists, mass attempts of illegal migration, organisation of pro-Russian political movements – these are only some of the tools used by the Kremlin to destabilise the Baltics.
The Baltic states bordering Russia have repeatedly become targets of hybrid attacks by their eastern neighbour. A fire at a defence company in Tallinn that supplies equipment to Ukraine has once again highlighted the existing threat.
Russia’s most loyal ally, Belarus, is taking part in hybrid operations against the Baltic states, pushing migrants towards their borders, recruiting spies, and promoting propaganda narratives. Will Alexander Lukashenko be willing to drag his country in a Russian military operation in the region?
Russia could prepare an operation – hybrid, false flag, or even a limited attack – against a NATO country, to test the Alliance’s response. With major Western powers distracted (domestic political issues, the war in Iran, etc.) Moscow may feel that it has a window of oportunity, and the most likely targets are considered to be Poland and the Baltic states.
Russia and Serbia are waging similar online operations, and their messages often amplify each other. But there is one significant difference: Russia's online campaign is a dimension of its imperial policy, while the Belgrade regime targets domestic audiences in Serbia.
The government in Chișinău intends to sever relations with Russia and expel its ambassador, claims a propagandist in Tiraspol who misquotes Moldovan Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu.
In 2025, Poland has found itself on the front line of a shadow war, waged with drones, explosives hidden along railway lines or in courier parcels turned into bombs, compromised officials, and and people recruited by the Russian secret services.
The closure of the Russian cultural center is evidence of the Russophobia of the Chișinău government, which wants to eliminate the autonomous unit of Găgăuzia and trade Transnistria in exchange for European integration, according to a false narrative picked up by pro-Russian media.
Russia’s closest ally, Belarus, has been increasing its hybrid operations against its EU neighbors, directing migrants towards their borders and closing its eyes to increasingly brazen smuggling. The goal is to cause instability.
Russia is engaged in a hybrid war against the West and has managed to convince people that, if they support Ukraine, their countries risk to be drawn into an actual war, according to hybrid war expert Mitchell A. Orenstein, a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of “The Lands In Between”
The EU and Chișinău are inventing external enemies (Russia) to shift responsibility for the internal problems they face, the former pro-Moscow president of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, says, cited by affiliated media.
Moldova can only integrate into the EU if it gets involved in the war and is annexed by Romania, according to false narratives used by the Kremlin propaganda.
An influencer says that education in other languages should only be private, and Russian propaganda presents this opinion as the Republic of Moldova's new state policy of banning the Russian language.
A month after Russian drones were brought down over Poland, Warsaw feels normal again. Politicians resumed their quarrels, and the news cycle has moved on. Yet something in the public mood has shifted – a low, persistent awareness that Poland is being watched, probed, and measured.
(Pro-)Russian propaganda seeks to convince the world that Russia is unstoppable. However, the parliamentary election in Moldova showed that, when facing smart opposition, Moscow cannot win the hybrid war — not even against a country with infinitely smaller resources. The lessons Moldova offers may prove valuable for both NATO and Romania.
This time, propagandists claim that “the Kyiv regime, after organizing drone provocations in Polish and Romanian airspace, continues its attempts to drag NATO’s European countries into an armed confrontation with Moscow”.
The pro-Europeans achieve a landslide victory in the parliamentary election in Moldova, following an election dominated by geopolitics and Russian interference, whose efforts ultimately proved futile. However, the results also show that the Republic of Moldova continues to remain deeply divided.
The EU wants to occupy Moldova with the help of NATO troops after the parliamentary election, and Maia Sandu is involved in this plan and will request the sending of foreign troops, according to a disinformation narrative promoted by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.
While under hybrid assault from Moscow, the Republic of Moldova is preparing for legislative elections that, like other elections in the past, are considered "crucial." The election will take place in a context where pro-Europeans are declining in popularity and the pro-Russian opposition is gaining strength.
Drones straying over Eastern Europe show that the War in Ukraine is no longer a distant spectacle
The migrant crisis, part of the hybrid war waged raged by Belarus (and Russia) against the EU.
The EU is turning into a military bloc and is imposing foreign values on Moldova, according to the former pro-Moscow president of Chișinău, the Socialist leader Igor Dodon.
There are at least two types of causes. The first is related to Romania's structural deficiencies, making institutions act more or less the same, regardless of the source of the danger, be it internal or external. The second, the easiest to deal with, stems from the specific nature of the relationship with Russia, the country from which the greatest threat to Romanian democracy comes today.
The government in Chisinau is dictatorial, Russophobic and imposes censorship, according to a report prepared by Russia and Belarus.