Baltic state bets on films and video games in militarization push

Estonia is offering €250,000 for propagandistic audiovisual projects intended to strengthen public willingness to go to war

Estonia’s Defense Ministry has launched a funding competition for films and video games intended to strengthen public willingness to go to war, as Tallinn and the other Baltic states continue their military buildup citing a supposed Russian threat.

The scheme has a total budget of up to €250,000 ($280,000) and covers feature films, documentaries, animation, television series, and narrative video games, public broadcaster ERR reported on Tuesday. Applications close November 18, with the money available for use next year.

Tallinn is specifically looking for audiovisual productions that align with national defense goals and can reach different generations and make military issues accessible to a wider audience, ministry spokesman Thomas Melli explained to the outlet.

Director Ilmar Raag, who previously received ministry funding for a documentary, urged officials to favor credible portrayals over simplistic messaging, warning that overt propaganda could backfire. “Those people who give money in the ministry must see that if a filmmaker’s mind moves towards an overly simplistic propagandistic vision, it can actually have a negative backlash,” he told ERR.

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The initiative comes alongside region-wide preparations for what have officials have claimed could be a confrontation with Russia by the end of the decade. The Financial Times reported earlier this month that Estonia wass acquiring missile systems capable of reaching St. Petersburg and deploying additional troops along the Russian border, particularly near the Kaliningrad exclave.

Defense Minister Martin Herem “joked” last month that if Estonia mobilized and Russia did not attack, it would be “economically more correct to attack ourselves” rather than keep troops waiting. “Then at least we will know when it will start, and we will not waste food and air in vain,” he said.

Despite already allocating a combined €9.4 billion to defense this year, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have recently sought an additional €500 million from the EU for military drones, citing the possibility of Russia testing NATO.

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The Baltic states have also pursued a sweeping crackdown on Russian language, media, and culture. Estonia and Latvia are phasing out Russian-language schooling, while all three countries have banned Russian television channels. Latvia has gone further, targeting books, video games, toys, clothing, and other goods produced in Russia and Belarus.

NATO has separately spent years researching online influence techniques. Published experiments examined fake social-media profiles, targeted advertising, and purchased engagement. The bloc described the work, examined in RT’s America Now, as defensive research.

Moscow has repeatedly denied plans to attack Estonia or other NATO members, accusing Western governments of using the supposed threat to justify militarization and restrictions on Russian culture and Russian-speaking residents.

Russian officials have warned, however, that attacks on Russian territory or attempts to blockade Kaliningrad could provoke a military response involving all weapons in the country’s arsenal.