<div dir="ltr"><div> </div><div> </div><div>Left behind? Russian-speaking minorities struggle in new Baltics</div>
<h2>
<p>While the Baltics make economic and democratic strides, they also
face growing pressure to better integrate their poor, disenfranchised
Russian-speaking minorities.</p></h2>
<p>
By
<span>Isabelle de Pommereau</span>, <span>Correspondent</span> /
December 12, 2012
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<div><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/1212/Left-behind-Russian-speaking-minorities-struggle-in-new-Baltics">http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/1212/Left-behind-Russian-speaking-minorities-struggle-in-new-Baltics</a></div>
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<p>
Tallinn, Estonia</p>
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<p>On the edge of <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Tallinn" target="_self" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">Tallinn</font></a>'s
13th-century Old Town, women huddle along a medieval wall, selling
mittens in freezing weather. They are Russian-speakers. Across the
street, shoppers banter in Estonian at trendy boutiques that are a
testament to the economic vitality of <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/1212/Baltic-nations-offer-ex-Soviet-states-a-Western-model" target="_blank"><font color="#0066cc">a former communist state that's turned itself around at breathtaking speed</font></a>.</p>
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<p title="Photo Caption" id="pgalleryvertcarousel_caption">Baltic Russians sell mittens in Tallinn's Old Town. Russian speakers are a big Baltic minority.</p>
<p title="Photo Credit" id="pgalleryvertcarousel_credit">Isabelle de Pommereau</p>
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<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/graphics/2012/1217-weekly/obaltics-map-g1/14515281-1-eng-US/OBALTICS-map-g1_full_600.jpg"><img width="90" height="80" title="Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia" alt="Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia" src="http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/graphics/2012/1217-weekly/obaltics-map-g1/14515281-1-eng-US/OBALTICS-map-g1_thumbnail_90.jpg"></a>
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<span>Graphic</span> <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/graphics/2012/1217-weekly/obaltics-map-g1/14515281-1-eng-US/OBALTICS-map-g1_full_600.jpg"><font color="#0066cc">Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia</font></a>
<br>(Rich Clabaugh/Staff) </p>
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<p>This picture of poorer Russians and more-successful Balts living
peacefully side by side is seen often across the Baltic region,
especially in <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Estonia" target="_self" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">Estonia</font></a> and <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Latvia" target="_self" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">Latvia</font></a>, home to most of the Baltics' 1.1 million Russian-speakers. But behind this equilibrium, there is a simmering mistrust.</p>
<p>Subconsciously
at least, Russian-speakers are still associated by many Balts with the
former occupier. Most came in the Soviet years to what were then
considered the richest Soviet republics to do jobs locals did not want,
in oil shale for example. They stayed, even after the Baltics broke free
of the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/U.S.S.R." target="_self" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">USSR</font></a>.</p><div><p><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2012/0202/Do-you-know-anything-about-Russia-A-quiz" target="_blank"><font color="#0066cc">Do you know anything about Russia? A quiz.</font></a></p>
</div><p><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Lithuania" target="_self" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">Lithuania</font></a>
integrated the Russian-speakers easily, but in Estonia and Latvia many
never learned the native languages required for citizenship or chose to
remain noncitizens – and now they tend to look to <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Moscow" target="_self" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">Moscow</font></a>
for help and direction. With a third of residents being
Russian-speakers (a little less in Estonia), Latvia has the largest such
community in the Baltics. In Lithuania, Russian-speakers only make up 7
percent of the population.</p><p>As a result, how to integrate large
Russian-speaking minorities has become one of the key challenges facing
Latvia and Estonia, experts say.</p><p>Occasionally, tensions explode.
They did in 2007, when the removal of a Soviet memorial from Tallinn’s
center led to rioting by members of the Russian-speaking population –
and a cyber-retaliation by the Russian government.</p><p>But the issue
of the Russian minority's place in society took on a new dimension last
year when a pro-Russian party won the most votes in Latvia's
parliamentary elections.</p><div><p>RELATED: <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/1212/A-Russian-island-encircled-by-Europe-Kaliningrad-s-dual-existence" target="_blank"><font color="#0066cc">A Russian island encircled by Europe: Kaliningrad's dual existence </font></a></p>
</div><p>"We
always look at this issue with great concern, but the particular case
in Latvia is more worrying to us than the situation in Estonia," says
Hannes Hanso of the International Centre for Defence Studies in Tallinn.
He sees the vote as Russia's effort to "reestablish itself as a center
of gravity ... for those post-Soviet countries."</p><p>“Russian
economic interests are much much bigger and more ingrained in Latvia.
The Russian population is easier to manipulate over there.”</p><p>The
popularity of Harmony Center, Latvia's pro-Russian party, reflects deep
discontent over austerity measures that have hit Russian-speakers hard
in particular, experts agree. In Latvia especially, Russian-speakers
have been largely disenfranchised, says political scientist Guna
Leiskalne.</p><p>"None of the Latvian parties has ever tried to speak to
Russians – never ever," she says. "Latvian politicians have never
fought for them. Somebody has to represent them."</p><p>But while not
yet a crisis, the question of how to integrate Russian-speakers,
especially the hundreds of thousands of noncitizens, remains a thorn in
the Baltic societies' side.</p><p>"Right now, there are no signals for danger. Russia and the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/European+Union" target="_self" rel="nofollow"><font color="#0066cc">European Union</font></a>
need each other. But we don't know how things will be in five, 10
years," says Raivo Vetik of Tallinn University's Institute of
International and Social Studies.</p><p>"That's why Estonia needs to do a better job of integrating Russians."</p></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br>
<br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br>
<br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------
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