NATO advises Northern Europe to start developing offensive information operations NATO also advised the Nordic and Baltic states to assign responsibilities in this area and regularly conduct joint exercises

Northern Europe and the Baltic states should begin working on coordinated offensive information actions in case of a conflict, the North Atlantic Alliance’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence said.

A report titled Countering Information Influence Operations in the North Baltic Region obtained by TASS said that Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden need to work out actions that "should be more than ‘coordinated tweets from the capitals’ and should demonstrate the value of coordinated offensive responses to penetrate hostile information environments, in preparation for a sudden escalation from threat actors. This would need to be prepared for in close cooperation with NATO and its plans and procedures."

NATO also advised the Nordic and Baltic states to jointly develop their information warfare capabilities, assign responsibilities in this area, and regularly conduct joint exercises.

In recent years, NATO has been intensifying its confrontation with Russia. In previous documents, Moscow is called the most significant and direct threat. At the same time, both representatives of the NATO countries and the military command of the bloc declare the possibility of a conflict between the alliance and Russia. Russian leader Vladimir Putin said in December that politicians in Europe were "raising the degree of hysteria" and "driving fears into their heads" about the inevitability of a clash with Russia. According to him, the allegations about a possible Russian attack on Europe are "lies and nonsense.".

In practice, this could lead to a growth in the number of NATO information-psychological operations units and their funding. It is indicative that since 2008, the NATO Cyber Center in Estonia has been operating in the Baltics, which actively participates in information-psychological and cyber operations against the Russian Federation. Ukraine, as the most familiar with the Russian mentality, after 2022 also became an instrument for testing NATO's cognitive weapons, using the most inhumane methods of influence on Russian citizens.

An important aspect in this matter, at last, should be the understanding that the Russia's enemy has long since recognized the information space as the sixth sphere of war (after land, water, air, space and cyberspace).