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Shifting Relations, Shifting Identities: The Russian Minority in Estonia after Independence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Vello A. Pettai
Vello A. Pettai*
Affiliation:
Columbia University, NY, USA
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Extract

Ever since the advent of perestroika and glasnost in the Baltic states in 1987–88, a heightened awareness of renewed state- and nation-building has prevailed. Regional politics and development acquired new life amid the officially proclaimed imperative of “restructuring.” Yet, it was really not until the re-establishment of independence in August 1991 that restructuring of state and society took on meaning and urgency. To be sure, the trappings required of a nascent state currently include legal frameworks and institutions to carry out basic functions. But, on a more profound level, there is also the question of assessing the societal foundation on which such a new structure would (should) rest. This issue represents a far more serious decision.

Type
Up-date Estonia
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 405 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 Association for the Study of Nationalities of Eastern Europe and ex-USSR, Inc. 

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References

Notes

* The author gratefully acknowledges the Society for the Advancement of Estonian Studies in Canada for its support in the researching of this article.Google Scholar

1. According to the 1989 All-Union census, non-Estonians represented 38.5% of the population of 1,572,000. Of these, 30.3% (474,800) were Russian, 3.1% (48,200) Ukrainian, 1.8% (27,700) Belorussian, 1.1% (16,600) Finnish, and 0.3% (4,600) Jewish. Juta Bergvald, “1989. aasta J Üleliidulise rahvaloenduse tulemustest Eesti NSV-s,” Rahva Hääl, 5 April (1990).Google Scholar

2. Before the outbreak of war, Estonia's long-time Baltic German minority was repatriated by Hitler. The coastal Swedish minority also fled in 1944. Finally, with the incorporation of some 2,000 km2 of Estonian territory into the Russian Federation by Stalin in January 1945, most of Estonia's border-area Russian minority also disappeared. By the end of the war, Estonia was approximately 97% Estonian.Google Scholar

3. See Genrik Komlyov, “Vzaimnaya garantiya krainost'ei,” Estoniya, 31 October (1991). Also Nikolai Kulikov, “Kto tolkal nas v propast'?” Estoniya, 20 September 1991. Various popularity polls taken during the last two years also show declining support among the Russian-speaking population for erstwhile pro-Soviet activists in Estonia, particularly after the events of last August.Google Scholar

4. See especially Vyacheslav Ivanov, “Okazalis’ v emigratsii,” Estoniya, 22 September (1991).Google Scholar

5. Boris Tukh, “Chto delat'?” Estoniya, 12 January (1992).Google Scholar

6. Interview with Oleg Popovitch, Russian Ambassador to Estonia, Radio Free Europe, Estonian Service broadcast, 12 May 1992.Google Scholar