Moscow’s ‘Narva People’s Republic’ Hoax Exposed, Potentially Helping Kremlin

(Paul Globe – The Jamestown Foundation) Given Russian history, memories of some in the West asking in the 1990s, “Who will die for Narva?,” and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desire to keep the West off balance, Moscow has unsurprisingly sponsored an internet provocation about a supposed Narva People’s Republic. That hoax has now been exposed, but it has already attracted enough attention to help Russian President Vladimir Putin do what he wants—sparking fears in the West that Moscow is about to make a military move against Estonia, and then relaxing once they decide the threat has passed. The Narva People’s Republic project highlights a longstanding but often ignored feature of such Russian intelligence operations—they are designed to succeed in important ways even when they appear to have failed when initially exposed as frauds. – Moscow’s ‘Narva People’s Republic’ Hoax Exposed, Potentially Helping Kremlin – Jamestown