Russians in Estonia are a difficult and painful issue for Russian-speaking residents of the state, since being an ethnic minority, this group remains the largest, up to 30% of the total population of the country. Figures are calculated from the number of Estonian citizens. In fact, the percentage of Russians living in the country is much higher. These include the indigenous people, as well as the third and fourth generation of Estonia, who do not agree with discriminatory legislation, which did not allow people to become citizens due to lack of knowledge of the state language.
The history of Russian in the country
Russians have been living on Estonian lands since time immemorial. It is noteworthy that the Estonians themselves are called Russian venelased. So the ancient inhabitants of modern Estonia called the ancestors of the ancient Slavs living on lands from the Carpathians and the lower Danube to the southeastern shores of the Baltic.
The second largest city in Estonia, Tartu, the Russian name Yuryev, was founded in the XI century by the squad of Yaroslav the Wise, later it was ruled by the Novgorod Republic, the Livonian Order, the Commonwealth, Sweden, the Russian Empire, the USSR, and Estonia. From time immemorial, Russians have lived in Narva, and 86% of the Russian population lived here during the incorporation of this city into Estonia. More than 41% of the Russian population lives in Tallinn.
A large influx of refugees from Russia occurred after the 1917 Revolution. So Russians in Estonia have always lived. Before 1925, a lot of Germans and Swedes lived in the country, but land reforms at that time led to mass bankruptcy and their departure from Estonia. The influx of the Russian population increased significantly in the postwar period, so by 1959 the percentage of the Russian population amounted to more than 20% of the total number of inhabitants.
Russian-speaking population
In Estonia, in addition to Russians and Estonians, the Russian-speaking population lives, it includes Jews, Armenians, Ukrainians, Germans, Belarusians, part of the indigenous population. For many of them, the Russian language has become their native language. Most of these people came to Estonia during the Soviet Union. Young people born after the 1990s are more likely to speak Estonian.
Persons without Estonian citizenship
In March 1992, the law on the granting of citizenship, enacted in 1938, came into force, according to which, descendants or their descendants are considered to be citizens. Overnight, more than a third of the inhabitants of the newly formed country were non-citizens, most of them Russians in Estonia.
This law was in effect for a little over a year, but this time was enough to hold elections to the legislative and executive authorities. As a result, the composition of the Estonian parliament consisted 100% of ethnic Estonians, which allowed the adoption of laws against the Russian-speaking population. The Russian language in Estonia is becoming the language of private communication, since Estonian was declared the state language.
The status of non-citizens in Estonia is regulated by a law passed in 1993. The time of its adoption was not completely random. It was a time of privatization. Indeed, according to the newly adopted law, persons without citizenship cannot have property in Estonia. At that time, Estonian media about Russia began to publish impartial materials to justify actions against the Russians.
It was those who, according to the adopted law, received the status of “stateless person”, owned most of the real estate, worked at enterprises that were subsequently privatized. Naturally, employees of enterprises, for the most part residents of other regions of the former USSR, declared non-citizens by law, were denied the right to privatization.
This led to the fact that almost all real estate and enterprises became the property of ethnic Estonians, today owners of large businesses. Since non-citizens were limited in their ability to do business, the legislation left them the opportunity to open small snack bars, cafes and shops. Subsequently, many still managed to obtain citizenship, but time was lost.
Estonian domestic policy
The Estonian government, under the influence of the mass protests of the Russian-speaking population, international organizations, the UN, the European Union, made some concessions. It, still believing that citizenship should be obtained through naturalization, went to ease the requirements for obtaining it, which resulted in some simplification of the exam in the Estonian language.
But gradually, citizenship in Estonia for Russians became not a priority issue. This happened due to the fact that the EU allowed stateless persons living in this country to travel freely to countries belonging to the Schengen zone. In 2008, D. Medvedev took the same path, allowing people of this category visa-free entry to Russia. This is a definite plus, as obtaining a visa to Russia for Estonian citizens is very problematic. Many were satisfied with the situation of non-citizens of Estonia. This does not suit Tallinn. Moscow, as always, prefers to remain silent on this score.
But the United Nations, as well as the European Union, are concerned about the large number of stateless persons, rightly believing that this violates the rights of a large part of Estonian residents. Since 2015, children of non-Estonian citizens born in this country will automatically receive citizenship, but, as the government of the state indicates, their parents are in no hurry to apply for it. The Estonian government places its hopes on the time, as a result of which the older generation will die out, thereby naturalizing naturalization.
Russia's position on the Russian question in Estonia
Relations between Moscow and Tallinn are at a freezing point. Despite the fact that there are 390, 000 Russians living in Estonia, the apartheid policy towards them continues. The actions of the Russian government are exclusively declarative in nature, which the majority of compatriots living in Estonia are regarded as treacherous.
There is a falsification of history in Estonia. This applies mainly to the Second World War. It is openly said that the Nazis helped the Estonians fight for the freedom of the country, representing the Russian invaders. Estonian media speak of Russia not as neighbors, but as invaders, once again representing the Russian-speaking inhabitants of their country as agents of Moscow, second-class people. One can often read that Russians are regulars in wine shops (do not Estonians visit them?), Poorly dressed, backward, living their own lives, incomprehensible to Europeans. Of course, this is not so. But the most important thing is to create an impression.
Moscow prefers to pretend that nothing terrible is happening in Estonia. This partly explains why many Russians prefer to be “stateless persons” in the country where they were born, raised, and do not rush to their homeland. First of all, due to the rather lengthy bureaucratic procedure for obtaining citizenship by ethnic Russians, which lasts for years. One has to go through humiliating gatherings of endless references and documents. And also because Estonia is also their land, where they were born, where their fathers lived, for which grandfathers fought.
Ethnic segregation?
How do Russians live in Estonia? This question is difficult to answer unequivocally. If you look from the point of view of material well-being, then, probably, no worse than in Russia. Although in the European Union, Estonia is a poor agricultural country. Otherwise, there would be a mass exodus. But this will not come to this, since more than one third of the country's population speak Russian. Studies by scientists from the University of Tartu show that in Tallinn, as well as in other Estonian cities, the number of people moving from one region to another has become more frequent, with Russians settling with Russians, Estonians with Estonians.
In the capital, local ethnic groups try to settle in the city center (the region of Põhja-Tallinn, Kesklinn, Kalamaya) and the outskirts (Kakumäe, Pirita, Nõmme). Although the central region of Pykhya-Tallinn is populated by Russians by more than 50%. Russians prefer to move to areas where there are national communities. These are mainly panel sleeping areas.
There is a division into groups based on ethnicity. It turns out that the Estonians do not want to live next to the Russians, who are not particularly eager to live next to the Estonians. Separation by ethnicity, artificial isolation between citizens, which is called "segregation", is growing. All this is fraught with serious consequences that may occur at any moment, as soon as people understand that Russia is not their helper, and members of the Estonian government “bit the bit”, feeling NATO. This is also understood in the European Union, where they are not willing to solve another complex problem. Ordinary people live peacefully, not wanting a confrontation.
Estonian naturalization
The country has experience of holding this event from 1920 to 1940. The Baltic Germans and Swedes were subjected to it. Historically, they were land owners. Estonians living in rural areas carried the names of their owners. After the adoption of the Rules of the Estonian language in 1920, the government took a tough course towards the assimilation of Germans, Swedes, who, not wanting to learn Estonian, went to their historical homeland.
The Seto people living in Estonia before the accession to Russia of the territory located in the Pechora district of the Novgorod region underwent assimilation. In addition, estonization of surnames was carried out. The government cannot carry out a strictly open naturalization now, as this will cause misunderstanding on the part of international human rights organizations, as well as local Russian-speaking movements. Therefore, this process is designed for a longer period of 20 years.
Russians in Estonia today
Independence, acquired in 1991, leads to the fact that the Russian language loses its official status and becomes a foreign language. But the situation surrounding this issue does not suit the Estonian government at all, since Russian speech can be heard practically throughout the country. The language is used at the household level, in advertising, trade, and services. It is not used to its full potential at the state level, although there are Russian-language sites of many state organizations that exist on budget money. In addition, not only Russians, but also Estonians use the Russian-language Internet, the media, cultural organizations, and many others.
In addition to Russians, citizens with Russian passports, as well as non-citizens, constantly live in Estonia. Therefore, in many municipalities where non-Estonians make up more than half of the population, public services are allowed in the language of the national minority. If it is more or less clear with citizens of another state, then non-citizens who have been resident in this country for several generations will be infringed on their rights.
It is quite difficult for a Russian citizen of Estonia to get a good job, but for a non-citizen it is almost impossible. Work in Estonia for Russians is found only in industrial facilities, in the service sector, trade, public catering. The civil service, most of the privileged and fairly paid professions fall under the list where the knowledge of the Estonian language is mandatory.
Education
The Estonian government understands that as long as there are educational institutions in Russian, full naturalization will not happen. This applies in particular to gymnasiums and universities. Therefore, a full translation of these educational institutions into Estonian is carried out. The problem of the Russian-speaking intelligentsia is quite acute. Russian schools in Estonia are closing.
The fact is that in the post-war period, industrial enterprises were actively built in the agrarian Estonian republic. This is due to the presence of ports on the Baltic Sea. Estonians, being mainly rural residents, could not provide them with labor. Therefore, qualified workers from other regions of the USSR came to work at enterprises. They mainly possessed working specialties.
Studying in Estonia for Russian children in Russian schools is prohibited. The private Russian universities operating in the country are mostly closed or threatened with extinction. Without the intelligentsia, in particular the humanities, preserving Russian traditions in Estonia is quite difficult. Schoolchildren who study all subjects in Estonian, and their native, as a foreign, optionally familiar with Russian literature, the history of Russia, simply assimilate, dissolved in the mass of Estonians, who still will not accept them as their own. This is what the Estonian government expects.
