Foreign Media Scan (February 10-February 16, 2025)

Author: Anna Mironova

Russian media narratives evolved drastically over the course of last week as Western leaders were set to meet to discuss pressing security challenges. Between February 10 and 16, 2025, top media outlets in Russia have pushed narratives on the following key themes relating to European security:

Energy Warfare:

To begin the week, RIA Novosti, among other outlets, reported heavily on the flow and pricing of gas in Europe. A key focus was the announcement that Transnistrian authorities declined financial assistance from the European Union (EU) for gas purchases and will be receiving it from Hungary instead (Hungary had been criticized for its pro-Russian stance in the past). Since the end of the deal to have Russian gas transiting via Ukraine (a deal that ended on January 1, 2025), Russia had to redirect the flow of its gas into Europe. Currently, Europe receives pipeline gas from Russia via a single route: the TurkStream pipeline, which runs through Turkey and on to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary. As Russian gas supplies to Europe dwindle amidst European energy diversification, what was notably missing from this Russian coverage on European energy was the announcement of Baltic nations disconnecting their power grid from Russia’s as part of an energy security plan to integrate with the EU’s network. This move was long overdue and reinforces both energy independence and regional security while sparking attention of Moscow’s influence over energy elsewhere in Europe.  

Trump-Putin Phone Call:

Marking an end to the so-called ‘international’ isolation of Russia, on February 12, 2025, American President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had an almost 90-minute phone call. The conversation covering issues ranging from a prisoner swap to the prospects for a settlement in Ukraine. The prominent Russian news agency TASS (originally the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union) reported that the call highlighted US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s belief that a return to Ukraine’s 2014 borders was unrealistic, and effectively ruled out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO. TASS also gave a special focus to the reaction of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reporting that the fact that President Trump had a phone conversation with President Putin before calling President Zelensky “was deeply upsetting for him”. However, as Lenta.ru noted, the call notably did not touch on European affairs and Europe’s participation in resolving the conflict. Overall, Russian media unsurprisingly had a tentatively positive reaction to this renewal of US-Russia relations. This conversation set the tone for the rest of the week as European leaders and President Zelensky worked to respond. 

Munich Security Conference:

While earlier in the week, Russian media was speculating that approaches to the conflict in Ukraine would be the main driver of discussions at the Munich Security Conference, from February 14 to 16, 2025, the actual takeaways proved to be unexpected from the Russian point of view. KP.ru reported that “The Munich Conference Smashed the Entire EU Structure into Pieces and Dust”. As Western politicians reported disappointment on how Munich left them dissatisfied, particularly following US Vice President Vance’s speech (which focused more on European culture and values rather than the anticipated security and defence discussions of the conference), the Director of the Department of Information and Press of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova commented, “It’s strange that they realized this only now. By the way, the food is also better in Moscow” (referring to Munich being disappointing) as reported by KP.ru. The disappointment surrounding this conference continued to incite similarly gloating articles from Russian media and largely suppressed other negative coverage of European security topics last weekend.