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Russians in Estonia

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Russians in Estonia
Regions with significant populations
Tallinn, Ida-Viru County

The beginning of continuous Russian settlement in what is now Estonia dates back to the late 17th century when several thousand Russian Old Believers, escaping religious persecution in Russia, settled in areas then a part of the Swedish empire near the western coast of Lake Peipus.

After Estonia regained independence in 1991 the Russians who had arrived to the country during the Soviet era were regarded as immigrants who'd need to apply for Estonian citizenship. Between 1992 and 2007 about 147.000 people acquired Estonian citizenship bringing down the proportion of stateless residents from 32% to about 8 percent.

First contacts and settlements

The Estonian name for Russians vene, venelane derives from an old Germanic loan veneð referring to the Wends, speakers of a Slavic language who lived on the southern coast of Baltic sea.

Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kievan Rus successfully raided Tartu in 1030, burning down the Estonian stronghold. The Russian foothold Yuryev built on its ashes survived until 1061, when Kievan Rus were driven out by Estonians, making most Early East Slavic settlements at the time in Estonia intermittent only and not continuous.

Outside of south-east Estonia archeologists unearthed a mediaeval Russian settlement in Kuremäe (Ida-Viru County). Russian Orthodox community in the area built a church in the 16th century and later Pühtitsa Convent was created on its site. Russian cultural influence had its mark on Estonian language, with a number of words such as "turg" (trade) and "rist" (cross) adopted from East Slavic.

The Estonian Crusade started in the Baltics by the Teutonic knights was resisted by all the natives of the region Slavs as well as Estonians.. In 1217 allied Russian-Estonian army defended fort Otepää from German knights. Russian prince Vyachko died in 1224 with all his druzhina defending fortress Tharbatu (modern Tartu) together with his Estonian allies against Livonian Order led by Albert of Riga. Russians were gradually driven out of Estonia.

The conquest of what is now Estonia and Latvia by Denmark and the German crusaders in the beginning of the 13th century greatly reduced Slavic and Orthodox Christian influence in the region. Russian Orthodox Saint Isidore of Tartu was drowned in 1472 in the ice holes of the Emajõgi river for his refusal to adopt Roman Catholicism together with 72 Orthodox Christians. . Nonetheless, Orthodox churches and small communities of Russian merchants and craftsmen came into being in the towns of medieval Livonia (i.e., Estonia and Latvia) as did close trade links with Russian Novgorod, Pskov and Polotsk principalities. In 1481, Ivan III of Russia laid siege to the castle Viljandi and briefly captured several other towns in eastern Livonia in response to a Livonian attack on north-west Russia. Between 1558 and 1582, Ivan the Terrible captured much of mainland Estonia, in the midst of the Livonian War, but eventually the Russians were driven out by Polish and Swedish armies. Tsar Alexis I of Russia once again captured towns in eastern Livonia, including Tartu and Vasknarva in modern Estonia between 1656 and 1661, but had to yield his Livonian and Ingrian conquests to Sweden. In the late 17th century several thousand Russian Old Believers, escaping religious persecution in Russia, settled in areas of Estonia (then controlled by Sweden) near the western coast of Lake Peipus.

Second wave of settlement

The second period of influx of Russians followed the Imperial Russian conquest of the northern Baltic region, including Estonia, from Sweden in 1700–1721. Under Russian rule, power in the region remained primarily in the hands of the Baltic German nobility, but a limited number of administrative jobs was gradually taken over by Russians, who settled in Reval (Tallinn) and other major towns. However, a relatively larger number of ethnic Russian workers settled in Tallinn and Narva during the period of rapid industrial development in the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century. After the First World War, the share of ethnic Russians in the population of independent Estonia was about 10%, of which about half were indigenous Russians living in the areas in and around Pechory and Izborsk which were added to Estonian territory according to the 1920 Estonian-Soviet Peace Treaty of Tartu, but were transferred to the Russian SFSR by the Soviet authorities in 1945.

Third influx

In 1939 ethnic Russians comprised 8% of the population. Most of the present-day Russians in Estonia are migrants from the Soviet era and their descendants. Following the terms of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1940. Soviet authorities carried out repressions against many prominent ethnic Russians activists in Estonia and Russian White emigres. Many Russians in Estonia were arrested and executed by different Soviet War Tribunals in 1940-1941. After Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, the three countries quickly fell under German control. Many Russians, especially Communist party members who had arrived in the area with the initial annexation, retreated to Russia; those who fell into German hands were treated harshly, many were executed.

After the war, Stalin initiated population transfer in the Soviet Union. Various Soviet ethnic groups that were relocated to Baltic states were mostly working class who settled in major urban areas, as well as military personnel stationed in the region in significant numbers due to the border location of the Baltic States within the Soviet Union. Many military retirees chose to stay in the region, which featured higher living standards compared to other parts of Soviet Union. By the 1980s, ethnic Russians made up a third of the population in Estonia.

During the Singing Revolution a large fraction of Russian-speaking Soviet immigrants who were organised in Intermovement actively opposed Estonia regaining its independence.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

One of the most notable Russians who has lived in Estonia has been Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. After the KGB had confiscated some of his materials in Moscow, during 1965-1967 the preparatory drafts of The Gulag Archipelago were turned into finished typescript while hiding in an Estonian farmhouse near Tartu. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn had shared a cell in the KGB Lubyanka Prison with Arnold Susi, a lawyer and former minister of Education of Estonia. Solzhenitsyn completed The Gulag Archipelago at the Susi's family home. After completion the original Solzhenitsyn's handwritten script was kept hidden from KGB in Estonia until 1998 by Arnold Susi's daughter Heli Susi.

Recent situation

In Estonia, most Russians live in Tallinn and the major northeastern cities of Narva and Kohtla-Järve. The rural areas are populated almost entirely by ethnic Estonians, except for some areas in eastern Estonia near Lake Peipus which have a long history of settlement by Russians, including the Old Believers' communities.

Citizenship

After regaining independence in 1991 the restored Republic of Estonia recognised citizenship of everybody who was a citizen prior to the Soviet occupation of 1940 or descended from such a citizen (including the long-term Russian settlers from earlier influxes, such as those around Mustvee near Lake Peipus), but did not grant any new citizenships automatically. This affected people who had arrived in the country after 1940, the majority of whom were ethnic Russians. Knowledge of Estonian language and history were set as conditions for naturalization. The government offers free preparation courses for the examination on the Constitution and the Citizenship Act and reimburses up to EEK 6,000 (approximately 380 euros) for language studies.

Under Estonian law, residents without citizenship may not vote in elections of Riigikogu (the national parliament) or European Parliament elections, but are eligible to vote in local (municipal) elections.

Language requirements

The perceived difficulty of the initial language tests necessary for naturalisation became a point of international contention, as the government of Russian Federation and a number of human rights organizations objected on the grounds that they made it hard for many Russians who had not learned Estonian to gain Estonian citizenship in the short term. As a result, the tests were somewhat altered and the number of stateless persons has steadily decreased. According to Estonian officials, in 1992, 32% of residents lacked any form of citizenship. In July 2007, the Population Registry of the Estonian Ministry of the Interior reported that 8.5% of Estonia's residents have undefined citizenship and 7.8% have foreign citizenship.

Alternatives

Russia being a successor state to the Soviet Union, all former USSR citizens qualified for natural-born citizenship of Russian Federation, available upon mere request, as provided by the law “On the RSFSR Citizenship” in force up to end of 2000.

Allegations of discrimination

Some Russians continue to allege job, salary and housing discrimination on account of Estonian-language requirements. Russian government officials and parliamentarians echo these charges in a variety of forums. Both the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Estonia and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities have declared that they cannot find a pattern of human rights violations or abuses in Estonia. However, Amnesty International has claimed that Russian-speaking linguistic minority living in Estonia often find themselves de facto excluded from the labour market and educational system. The report expressed the view that the current policies fail to constitute a coherent framework within which these rights can be guaranteed for such persons. Amnesty International cites as evidence the high unemployment rate — 12.9% in 2005 — among people belonging to Russian-speaking linguistic minority, in contrast to only 5.3% among ethnic Estonians during the same period.

The European Centre for Minority Issues has also examined Estonia's treatment of its Russophone minority. In its conclusion, the centre notes that while all international organisations agree that no forms of systematic discrimination towards the Russian-speaking population can be observed and praises the efforts made thus far in amendments to laws on education, language and the status of non-citizens, there nevertheless remains the issue of the large number of such non-citizens. The think-tank Development and Transition, sponsored by the United Nations, published an article in 2005 alleging Latvia and Estonia employ a "sophisticated and extensive policy regime of discrimination" against their respective Russophone populations; however, Development and Transition also published a responding article disputing those allegations as simplistic, particularly the conclusion that "in the absence of an end to discrimination and a state commitment to integration," Russophones will "seek justice through violence, or will exit by out-migration", given that the majority of Russophones were already citizens.

Finnish legal sociologist Johan Bäckman has compared the "criminal discrimination of Russians" in Estonia to the former Apartheid regime of South Africa. "There are several common features, such as the official segregation of people into two or more groups, the persecution of the political opposition, the persecution of several racial groups," Bäckman said to Russia Today on 26 May, 2009. "If the person is Russian, he or she has much worse possibilities to be employed, to live in that society. They do not have political freedom; they don’t have democratic rights in this country even if a Russian person gets the Estonian passport, gets the citizenship of Estonia. Even in that case his or her possibilities are much worse than the possibilities of an Estonian person. The Russians are paid less; they don’t have free Russian language press in that country. Of course they don’t have free press at all in that country. The press is being controlled by the government. And of course that’s much easier in a small country like Estonia," Bäckman said.

As of October 30, 2008, 116,677, or 8%, of Estonia's population remain non-citizens.

Notable Russians from Estonia

Noteworthy modern Russians who at some point lived in Estonia include:

See also

References

  1. Frucht, Richard (2005). Eastern Europe. ABC-CLIO. p. 65. ISBN 1576078000. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ Puddington, Arch (2007). "Estonia". Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties. Published by Rowman & Littlefield. p. 248. ISBN 0742558975. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. Campbell, Lyle (2004). Historical Linguistics. MIT Press. p. 418. ISBN 0262532670. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. Bojtár, Endre (1999). Foreword to the Past. Central European University Press. p. 88. ISBN 963911642. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. A short overview of the history of Tartu
  6. Miljan, Toivo. Historical Dictionary of Estonia
  7. Pühtitsa (Pyhtitsa) Dormition Convent
  8. Kahk J., Palamets H., Vahtre S. "Estee NVS Ajaloost Lisamaterjali VII-VIII Klassi NVS Liidu Ajaloo Kursuse Juurde 7. Trukk" Tallin: "Valgus", 1974
  9. Kahk J., Palamets H., Vahtre S. "Estee NVS Ajaloost Lisamaterjali VII-VIII Klassi NVS Liidu Ajaloo Kursuse Juurde 7. Trukk" Tallin: "Valgus", 1974
  10. Chronology of 13th century
  11. Historical background of Orthodoxy in Estonia
  12. http://www.historycommission.ee/temp/pdf/appendixes/312-318.pdf Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity.
  13. Rosenfeld, Alla (2001). Art of the Baltics: The Struggle for Freedom of Artistic Expression Under the Soviets, 1945-1991. Rutgers University Press. pp. 55, pp.134. ISBN 9780813530420. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr (1997). Invisible Allies. Basic Books. pp. 46–64 The Estonians. ISBN 9781887178426. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. Citizenship Act of Estonia (English translation)
  16. ^ Government to develop activities to decrease the number of non-citizens
  17. Estonia: Citizenship
  18. The Policy of Immigration and Naturalization in Russia: Present State and Prospects, by Sergei Gradirovsky et al.
  20. Estonia Linguistic minorities in Estonia: Discrimination must end
  21. European Centre for Minority Issues: Russian-speaking minorities in Estonia and Latvia: problems of integration at the threshold of the European Union by Peter van Elsuwege]
  22. Discrimination against the Russophone Minority in Estonia and Latvia
  23. Rejoinder to James Hughes
  24. ^ ""Estonia has an apartheid regime"". Russia Today. 2009-05-26. Retrieved 2009-05-26.

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Related topics: Ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states and White émigré.
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