海角大神

Jelena Solomina, a petite blond, and Dmitri Pastuhhov, whose wavy mane of hair is pulled back with sunglasses, pace across their unfinished television studio in central Tallinn.

As hosts of the new 鈥渕orning show鈥� on Estonian鈥檚 first public television station in Russian, which launches Monday, they face a formidable to-do list: everything from deciding when their working day starts to the design of the on-air kitchen where they'll make their coffee. Mr. Pastuhhov says his goal is clear: 鈥淭o do the best job we can for the people living here.鈥�

But far beyond this Baltic nation, from Berlin to Brussels, Warsaw to Washington, officials will be tuning in 鈥� and not for the fitness segments or musical guests.

This new channel, called ETV+, is just one part of a mounting effort by the West to pull Russian-language audiences in Europe away from Kremlin-sponsored programming 鈥� which many consider destabilizing propaganda. The European Union, NATO, and others are all launching projects to try and counter聽the Kremlin's media machine, which many fear is breaking down allegiances among Russian-speaking populations to the European countries in which they live.

But the West's engagement in the information war raises difficult questions along the way. Chief among them: how can something like ETV+ avoid being cast off as a propaganda tool itself?

鈥淭his is not a question of information like the cold war. In the cold war, the question was how people behind the Iron Curtain could get proper information. Now Russians in Russia or Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania can have good access to any kind of information,鈥� says Erkki Bahovski, editor-in-chief of Diplomaatia, the foreign and security policy magazine of the聽International Center for Defense and Security in Estonia.聽鈥淭he main riddle here is how to counter propaganda in a free society.鈥�

Or in simpler terms, he says, how to get Russian-speakers outside Russia to tune in to domestic programming in the first place.

'More important than tanks or planes'

That鈥檚 exactly what is on Ainar Ruussaar鈥檚 mind.聽As the board member of the Estonian Public Broadcasting company who is in charge of content, he says the formula for ETV+, on its face, is simple:聽鈥淟ess Putin, more local stories.鈥�

With about 4 million euros in government financing each year, ETV+ will start with its morning show, two nightly news programs, and a host of original content from 鈥渉ard talk鈥� to cooking classes to a cultural program on modern Russian culture.

In-between they will try to pull Russian-language speakers, who comprise nearly a third of the population, in with 鈥淗ouse of Cards鈥� translated in Russian, old Soviet comedies that are banned in Russia, Estonian films, Nordic political dramas, and a German reality series on fast cars similar to Britain鈥檚 鈥淭op Gear.鈥�

The channel doesn鈥檛 just have the financial commitment of Estonia. From the British ambassador, who has provided contacts at the BBC, to Denmark and Germany offering their best programs and training journalists and directors, Ruussaar says the international attention shows how seriously this venture is being taken. 鈥淭he US and all the EU members and NATO members understand that in the modern world, strategic communications or real journalism, real information, is sometimes more important than tanks or warplanes,鈥� he says.

Seventy-two percent of Russian speakers in Estonia receive their television news from Moscow, according to a poll by Saar in 2014. And many here see that as a problem.

Although he鈥檚 been critical of many aspects of ETV+, prominent writer and journalist Andrei Hvostov says his Russian-speaking father is proof of the need for credible information. 鈥淢y boy, you have difficult times in Tallinn,鈥� his father said to him in a recent phone conversation, 鈥渨ith all those American troops there.鈥� His father says he saw news of widespread rape and violence by American soldiers in the capital. The news is untrue.

His father lives in Sillamae, just a two-hour drive away in eastern Estonia, where Russian-speakers comprise nearly the entire population. But disinformation makes its way to the capital: to Russian-speaking children even in Tallinn鈥檚 school system, for example. On a field trip to NATO headquarters in Brussels last spring, high school students in one of his friend鈥檚 classes asked NATO officials: 鈥淲hy are you fighting in Ukraine?鈥�

Is ETV+ needed?

It is the propagation of such myths that has prompted the scramble for new media sources in Europe, after years of warnings about the risk of Moscow-sponsored news media.

Elsewhere in the region, the European Union has just launched a new task force aimed at myth-busting in Russian-language media. Officials in August inaugurated its new NATO Stratcom Center of Excellence in Riga, Latvia, aimed at honing strategic communications defense.

And the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) in Brussels is promoting the idea of a "content factory" and "news hub" that would act as a Russian-language news agency in Europe. Poland and the Netherlands have pledged 1 million and 1.5 million euros ($1.1 million and $1.7 million) respectively to the EED to that end.

鈥淲e are late,鈥� says Jerzy Pomianowski, the EED鈥檚 executive director. 鈥淭he information war over Ukraine has shown us the gravity of this manipulation. This was a wake-up call.鈥�

There are many inside and outside the Russian-speaking community who dismiss the need for ETV+ in strategic defense terms. 鈥淵ou might like Putin, but you鈥檇 never think about moving to Pksov [in Russia],鈥� says Olaf Mertelsmann, a professor of contemporary history at the University of Tartu [in Estonia]. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the difference between Estonia and Crimea.鈥�

Ruslan Murtazin, walking out of the Russian Orthodox St. Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Tallinn on a recent Sunday, says he supports Putin 鈥� 鈥渨e鈥檝e waited a long time for such an energetic leader鈥� 鈥� but prioritizes his EU citizenship, especially use of the euro and the protection of a European legal system. The real estate agent says most of the Russian-speaking community feels similarly. But even if they didn鈥檛, he doesn鈥檛 see where a risk lies. Estonia in total has 1.3 million residents, hardly worth Putin鈥檚 time, he says.

Still, he, like many others, says it logical that Estonia is launching a television program in Russian. For many, it comes 20 years late.聽鈥淩ussian speakers pay taxes too, and they are finally getting the station they deserve,鈥� says Ms. Solomina, the new ETV+ morning anchor.

Estonia's Russian-speakers

And yet the concept has turned the spotlight on the troubled history between native Estonians and Russian speakers, most of whom migrated or were forced to migrate to Estonia during the Soviet era and have struggled for equal footing since its collapse. After Estonia regained its independence in 1991, it chose not to automatically grant citizenship to Russian-speakers. The idea was that they鈥檇 assimilate or integrate by learning Estonian.

Instead, thousands remain stateless today. 鈥淢any of them know nothing of the country they are living in,鈥� says Mr. Mertelsmann.

So the first challenge will be getting many of them to turn ETV+ on. Even though it鈥檚 independent, taxi driver Aleksei Rattik, a Russian speaker, reckons the channel will just be a mouthpiece for the West.

鈥淭he Estonian government just does whatever the US asks it to do,鈥� says Mr. Rattik, who participated in riots in 2007 here over the removal of a Soviet-era statue. He counts himself a supporter of Putin and thinks Estonia is wrong to view Russia as the enemy.

鈥淩ussia will always be our neighbor,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 just shut them out.鈥�

Mr. Hovstov, the writer, is no fan of Putin. But he has doubts about ETV+ too. To be more than a counter propaganda tool, he says it needs 鈥渉ard talk鈥� shows that reveal the multiple, complex views that Russian-speakers hold 鈥� not just about Estonian governance, but about Russia鈥檚 annexation of Crimea and Moscow鈥檚 disdain for many EU values, including rights for homosexuals.

Russian-speakers are dismissed as Putin-supporters if they don鈥檛 support Estonia鈥檚 political elite, he says. 鈥淓stonians always doubt the loyalties of Russian-speaking people,鈥� he says.

The need to build bridges

For all of the skepticism toward the channel in the Russian-speaking community, there is also criticism of it in the Estonian one.

One of the reasons a Russian-language station is launching in 2015, nearly 25 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, is because there was a resistance to pay for 鈥淩ussian things,鈥澛燤ertelsmann聽says. The channel鈥檚 supporters are at pains to defend the entertainment programs in the line-up as merely the hook, not the point.

Others think the concept is simply wrong-headed if its true aim is to bridge divides. "There must be one information and cultural space,鈥� says聽Urmas聽Sutrop, the director of the Estonian Literary Museum, who mission is to preserve Estonian cultural heritage. 鈥淭he channel creates a new space that separates."

These questions have long聽vexed policymakers in Estonia 鈥撀燼nd there are no easy answers. But聽Sergei Metlev, a parliamentary adviser for the small Free Party of Estonia, says that security concerns have made the need to find a solution urgent.

He鈥檚 long advocated for everyone to learn Estonian. But the reality is that not all are going to do so. So bringing them culturally closer to Estonia must take precedence.

"Russian-speakers physically are in Estonia, but mentally they are in Russia,鈥� he says.聽鈥淒o we want to be effective here in the moment, now, or do we want to talk about some huge process that will go on for years and years?鈥�