Securing Democracy Dispatch

“NATO has a different place in the Russian psyche” than the EU, Acting Manager for Europe and Fellow Etienne Soula tells DW News. Russia objects more to Ukraine’s NATO membership than its EU accession because Russia does not view the EU as a “serious military problem” without US operational support.

Russian diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• SCO Summit: Russian propaganda outlets celebrated Russia’s success in supposedly rebalancing global power at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China. Sputnik International described the meeting of Russian, Indian, and the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) leaders as a “game changer in global politics” and speculated that the United States miscalculated its tariff policies, pushing “India closer to Russia and China”. RT echoed this assessment, writing that “[US President Donald] Trump’s tariff barrage backfired”, leading Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit China for the first time in seven years. Russian political philosopher Aleksandr Dugin praised the meeting of the three leaders as “real multipolarity in action”, warning that the West “must either adapt to this shift or collapse like the Tower of Babel”. An expert interviewed by Sputnik China concluded that the PRC and India “jointly oppose trade bullying” and the meeting of Russian, Indian, and PRC leaders “sends a strong signal of unity and cooperation” among so-called Global South and BRICS nations.
• US-Venezuela Crisis: Russian officials and state media expressed solidarity with Venezuela and blamed the United States for threatening the country’s independence. RIA Novosti questioned reports of a US strike on an alleged drug vessel from Venezuela, repeating Venezuelan lawmaker Gilberto Giménez’s claim that the attack was a “false cause” for a possible military intervention. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova declared that Russia “categorically rejects” the threat of force against sovereign states and emphasized that the people and government of Venezuela have the “inalienable right” to freely determine their path. RT quoted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s proclamation that “Venezuela refuses to bow”, while Sputnik Brasil cited Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who warned that Venezuela would become a “calamity and a nightmare” for the United States if it attempted military intervention. Sputnik Mundo cited controversial US blogger and former CIA analyst Larry Johnson, who theorized that US military deployment is a pretext to seize control of Venezuelan oil and “exclude any influence from China or Russia”. 

The PRC’s diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• WWII Anniversary: Last week, the main story for PRC diplomats (including those in Iraq, Japan, Panama, the United States, and at the United Nations) and PRC state media was the military parade that took place in Beijing for the 80th anniversary of the victory in the “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War”, or World War II. Of the 26 world leaders in attendance, most attention was devoted to Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Images of the parade were beamed around the world, with a focus on drones and unmanned systems, nuclear missiles, and the “ferocious-and-full-of-grace” all-female contingent. The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, praised “the most epic formation change” and quoted netizens who thought the parade was “like a video game, but…real!” CGTN amplified a picture of an intercontinental nuclear missile, noting that “the true art of war is the art of stopping wars”.
• SCO Summit: PRC messengers provided significant coverage of the SCO summit that took place in Tianjin, China from August 31 to September 1. State media focused on the many foreign leaders who travelled to China for the summit. While they devoted particular attention to Modi, emphasizing his good chemistry with Putin and PRC leader Xi Jinping, they also highlighted the arrival of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The PRC Ambassador to India and CGTN-affiliate T-House rejected the notion that the SCO was a mere talk shop, with T-House amplifying an Iranian expert comparing Western “lectures” to the SCO’s “roundtables”. 

Iranian diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• UN Sanctions: Iranian state messengers firmly condemned France, Germany, and the United Kingdom’s announcement last week that they will trigger the snapback mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran. Iran’s Foreign Minister Sayed Abbas Araghchi denounced the move as a “reckless gambit” that “reward[s] the offender and punish[es] the victim” and proclaimed its restoration will turn Europe into a “permanently spent force”. The Iranian parliament called the decision a “hostile action” and vowed “decisive” and “regret-inducing” payback. Iran’s diplomatic accounts amplified images of Iran, Russia, and the PRC’s joint letter to the United Nations rejecting the European Troika’s activation of the snapback as “legally baseless”. Other officials undermined the mechanism, calling it more of a “psychological tactic than a genuine threat” and asserting that sanctions will have no impact on Tehran’s military or oil exports. Press TV insisted that Europe’s decision to restore UN sanctions was “orchestrated” by the United States and Israel and promoted an interview with Russian state media regular Larry Johnson, in which he explained that the snapback mechanism reflects the “West’s animosity for Iran over its defiance against its coercive policies”.
• SCO Summit: Iranian officials and state media also dedicated significant coverage to the SCO Summit meeting in Tianjin, China. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei commemorated the start of the meetings by writing a post on his official English-language X account in Chinese underlining the importance of the Iranian-PRC strategic partnership. Iranian state media painted Iran’s participation in the meetings positively, praising Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s “active diplomacy” and amplifying coverage of his remarks to the SCO, in which he hailed the organization as a potential foundation for world peace and urged greater economic cooperation to reduce the impacts of “unlawful” sanctions on member states. Other outlets underscored the organization’s solidarity against the West, claiming the summit provides a chance to counter US and European unilateralism in international affairs, calling the gathering the “anti-American Axis”, and emphasizing member states’ united condemnation of Israel and the United States’ attacks on Iran.

• Bulgarian authorities rolled back their and the EU’s allegations that Russia was behind an attack that disrupted the GPS signal on a chartered plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that was en route to an airport in Bulgaria. Bulgarian officials downplayed claims that the incident was a direct result of Russian interference, but noted that radio-jamming incidents are a “side consequence” of the war in Ukraine. 
• A coordinated pro-Russian network of YouTube channels operated out of Nigeria has collectively amassed more than 5.8 million views, largely by repurposing old interviews—occasionally aided by AI-generated news anchors to make the content appear new—of American pro-Kremlin figures denigrating Ukraine and its Western allies.
• German authorities warned citizens against becoming “disposable agents” for Russian kinetic operations as Russian intelligence has stepped up its recruitment of Germans and other nationalities via social media and intermediaries to commit sabotage operations in Europe.
• The PRC-linked hacking group known as Salt Typhoon may have accessed information on “nearly every American”—including Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and major Democratic politicians—during a coordinated attack against telecommunications companies last year, investigators concluded. It is unclear if average Americans’ personal data were the operation’s target or were swept up in the breach.
• The Spanish government cancelled a contract that would have allowed Huawei to use its equipment in Spain’s universities, research institutions, and parts of the Ministry of Defense.

The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone.