VIEWS FROM THE CAPITALS

Autumn 2007

by Mait Talts

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The riots by Estonia’s ethnic Russians that rocked Tallinn in the spring, and the solidarity shown by fellow EU member states during its subsequent arguments with Moscow, have at last boosted the EU’s popularity in this northern Baltic state.

According to opinion polls, 85% of Estonians supported EU membership in May, compared with only 67% of the population who in September 2003 voted to join the Union. The spring crisis in relations with Russia – which famously included cyber attacks on key national institutions and the seizure of Estonia’s embassy in Moscow – seems finally to have persuaded Estonians that the EU is the major guarantor of their country’s independence

The on-going rift between ethnic Estonians and Russians has its roots back in the Soviet era. It remains a crucial issue for the country’s culture and statehood, as well as for bi-lateral relations with Moscow. When Estonia was part of the Soviet Union between 1944 and 1991, an estimated five million Russian immigrants moved in and out of the country, not counting military personnel. By the end of the Soviet era, 40% of the country’s population was Russian. Even today, ethnic Estonians account for less than a million of the country’s 1.34m population.

So perhaps it is understandable that the majority of Russians living here have found it hard to adjust to life in an independent Estonia; they had originally settled in a part of their greater Soviet homeland. Since Estonia gained independence in 1991, however, things have changed. The naturalisation policy of the new republic has become quite strict, with, for example, Russian speakers required to pass a test in the Estonian language before they can become full citizens. This has led to a division of Estonian Russians into different categories of citizenship (citizens of Estonia, citizens of Russia and other newly emerged states as well as stateless persons).

Sociological surveys in recent years have revealed quite high levels of uncertainty and even insecurity among Estonian Russians. One common psychological trait found among them is a kind of identity crisis, or at least serious problems with new identity formation. For good or ill, Russian speakers still remember where their families came from. Such feelings no doubt contributed to last April’s disturbances in the capital.

The trigger for these riots was the government’s decision to move a Soviet war memorial out of the city centre and into a military cemetery. For ethnic Estonians, the statue of a Red Army soldier symbolised the beginning of the Soviet occupation in 1944. For local Russians and for Moscow, though, the move was seen as an insult to the Soviet dead of World War II. Young Russian protestors shouted “Rossija! Rossija!” and carried banners proclaiming “CCCP 4ever!”, even though they were far too young to remember the communist era.

The protestors’ invocation of the Soviet legacy had a serious backlash. They inadvertently provoked ethnic Estonians’ fears about a possible return to the past. Such renewed concern over their powerful Eastern neighbour suppressed popular Estonian myths about the European Union being “the new Moscow” or “the melting pot of cultures” in which Estonia’s identity would be lost. Even the wide-spread discontent over the European Commission’s financial penalties – imposed because of excessive stockpiling of sugar before accession – finally began to fade.

In May, opinion polls found that support for the EU was strongest among ethnic Estonians, with 87% of the population in favour of membership. And with 78% of non-ethnic Estonians also registering strong backing for the EU, it would seem that ethnic Russians haven’t lost faith that the EU might one day help them to solve their problems in Estonia.