Estonia–Russia relations
Encyclopedia
Estonia–Russia relations refers to bilateral foreign relations
between Estonia and Russia. Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Estonia
and the Russian SFSR were established on 2 February 1920, when Bolshevist Russia
recognized de jure
the independence of the Republic of Estonia, and renounced in perpetuity all rights to the territory of Estonia, via the Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Estonian)
. At the time, the Bolshevik
s had just gained control of the majority of Russian territory, and their government's legitimacy was being hotly contested by Western powers and the Russian White movement
.
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In 1030 Yaroslav I the Wise
of Kievan Rus organised a military expedition to the territory of Ancient Estonia
and built a fort he called Yuryev on the site of the Estonian stronghold of Tarbatu in Ugaunia
, where Tartu
is now located. In 1061, Estonians/Ugaunians
took back the territories. During the reign of Yaroslav the Wise the first Russian Christian Church
es were founded in Estonia. However, Estonia was not Christianised until the 13th century by German and Danish crusaders.
invaded Livonian Confederation
(the territory of the present-day Estonia and Latvia). Starting the Livonian War
(1558–1582), a military conflict between the Tsardom of Russia
and a coalition of Denmark
, Grand Duchy of Lithuania
, Kingdom of Poland
(later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
), and Sweden
. Treaty of Jam Zapolski in 1582 between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Russia renounced its claims to Livonia. The following year, the Tsar also made peace with Sweden. Under the Treaty of Plussa
, Russia lost Narva and the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland
, being its only access to the Baltic Sea
. The situation was partially reversed 12 years later, according to the Treaty of Tyavzino
which concluded a new war between Sweden and Russia.
in 1721 resulted the Treaty of Nystad
, the Russian Empire
gained the Sweden's Baltic territories Estonia (nowadays northern Estonia) and Livonia, (nowadays southern Estonia and northern Latvia). The legal system, Lutheran church, local and town governments, and education remained mostly German until the late 19th century and partially until 1918.
By 1819, the Baltic provinces
were the first in the Russian empire in which serfdom was abolished, the largely autonomous nobility allowing the peasants to own their own land or move to the cities. These moves created the economic foundation for the coming to life of the local national identity and culture as Estonia was caught in a current of national awakening that began sweeping through Europe in the mid-19th century.
of the Estonian National Council Maapäev
issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence
.
, was the Republic of Estonia's struggle for sovereignty in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917
.
was a peace treaty between Estonia and Russian SFSR signed on 2 February 1920 ending the Estonian War of Independence.
In 1920 the rules were laid down in Russia at the Comintern's Second Congress, Communist parties abroad were to be created either afresh or else by splitting Social Democratic parties; in any case, they were to be accountable to Moscow and not to their domestic constituencies.
Vladimir Lenin's incapacity and death (21 January 1924) triggered a struggle for power between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. During the struggle Soviet foreign policy drifted.
On 1 December 1924 an attempted communist coup in Estonia conducted by Comintern
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Non-aggression treaty
The Convention for the Definition of Aggression
and its Secret Additional Protocol of August 1939.
1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland
.
3 September, Great Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Germany
14 September, the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł
reached Tallinn
, Estonia
17 September, Soviet Union invaded Poland
18 September, Orzeł incident, the Polish submarine escaped from internment
in Tallinn and eventually made her way to the United Kingdom, Estonia's neutrality questioned by the Soviet Union and Germany.
On 24 September 1939 Warships of the Red Navy appeared off Estonian ports, Soviet bombers began a threatening patrol over Tallinn and the nearby countryside. In light of the Orzeł incident, the Moscow press and radio started violently attacking Estonia as "hostile" to the Soviet Union. Moscow demanded that Estonia allow the USSR to establish military bases and station 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for the duration of the European war. The government of Estonia accepted the ultimatum signing the corresponding agreement on 28 September. 1939.
The Pact was made for ten years:
On 14 June, the Soviet military blockade of Estonia took effect. Two Soviet bombers downed a Finnish passenger airplane Kaleva
flying from Tallinn to Helsinki
and carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U.S. legations in Tallinn, Riga
and Helsinki.
On 16 June 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Estonia. The Red Army exited from their military bases in Estonia, some 90,000 additional Soviet troops entered the country. Molotov had accused the Baltic states of conspiracy against the Soviet Union and delivered an ultimatum to Estonia for the establishment of a government the Soviets approve of. The Estonian government decided according to the Kellogg-Briand Pact
not to use war as an instrument of national policy. Given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, not to resist, to avoid bloodshed and open war.
On 17 June Estonia accepted the ultimatum and the statehood of Estonia de facto ceased to exist, the day France surrendered to Germany. The military occupation
of the Republic of Estonia was complete by 21 June 1940 and rendered "official" by a communist coup d'état supported by the Soviet troops.
Most of the Estonian Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League
surrendered
according to the orders believing that resistance was useless and were disarmed by the Red Army. Only the Estonian Independent Signal Battalion stationed in Tallinn at Raua Street showed resistance. As the Red Army brought in additional reinforcements supported by six armoured fighting vehicle
s, the battle lasted several hours until sundown. There was one dead, several wounded on the Estonian side and about 10 killed and more wounded on the Soviet side. Finally the military resistance was ended with negotiations and the Single Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed.
On the same day 21 June 1940 the flag of Estonia
was replaced with a red flag
on Pikk Hermann
tower, the symbol of the government in Estonia in force.
14–15 July rigged "parliamentary elections" were held where all but pro-Communist candidates were outlawed. Those who failed to have their passports stamped for so voting were allowed to be shot in the back of the head. Tribunals were set up to punish "traitors to the people." those who had fallen short of the "political duty" of voting Estonia into the USSR. The "parliament" so elected proclaimed Estonia a Socialist Republic on 21 July 1940 and unanimously requested Estonia to be "accepted" into the Soviet Union
. Estonia was formally annexed into the Soviet Union on 6 August and renamed the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
. The 1940 occupation and annexation of Estonia into the Soviet Union was considered illegal and never officially recognized
by Great Britain, the United States and other Western democracies.
of the Estonian Army Johan Laidoner
was captured by the NKVD
and deported together with his spouse to the Town of Penza
. Laidoner died in the Vladimir Prison Camp, Russia on 13 March 1953. President of Estonia
, Konstantin Päts
was arrested and deported by the Soviets to Ufa
in Russia on 30 July, he died in a psychiatric hospital
in Kalinin (now Tver
) in Russia in 1956. 800 Estonian officers, i.e., about a half of the total were executed, arrested or starved to death in prison camps
.
On 14 June 1941, when June deportation
took place simultaneously in all three Baltic countries, about 10,000 Estonian civilians were deported to Siberia
and other remote areas of the Soviet Union, where nearly half of them later perished. Of the 32,100 Estonian men who were forcibly relocated to Russia under the pretext of mobilisation into the Red Army after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, nearly 40 percent died within the next year in the "labour battalion
s" through hunger, cold and overworking. During the first Soviet occupation of 1940–41 about 500 Jews were deported to Siberia
.
When Estonia was proclaimed a Soviet republic, the crews of 42 Estonian ships in foreign waters refused to return to homeland (about 40% of Estonian pre-war fleet) These ships were brought into requisition by the British powers and were used in the Atlantic convoys. During the time of the war, approximately 1000 Estonian seamen served at the British militarised merchant marine, 200 of them as officers. A small number of Estonians served in the Royal Air Force
, in the British Army
and in the US Army, altogether no more than two hundred.
Oleg Vasilovski, a former General in the Russian Imperial Army. Arrest order issued by NKVD on 1 July 1940. Further fate unknown. Sergei Klenski, one of the former leaders of the Russian Peasants Labor Party. Arrested on 22 July. On 19 November 1940, sentenced to 8 years in a prison camp. Further fate unknown. Mikhail Aleksandrov, Arseni Zhitkov.
Other ethnic Russians in Estonia arrested and executed by different Soviet War Tribunals in 1940–1941.
Ivan Salnikov, Pavel Mironov, Mihhail Arhipov, Vassili belugin, Vladimir Strekoytov, Vasili Zhilin, Vladimir Utekhin, Sergei Samennikov, Ivan Meitsev, Ivan Yeremeyev, Konstatin Bushuyev, Yegor Andreyev, Nikolai Sausailov, Aleksandr Serpukhov, Konstatin Nosov, Aleksandr Nekrasov, Nikolai Vasilev-Muroman, Aleksei Sinelshikov, Pyotr Molonenkov, Grigory Varlamov, Stepan Pylnikov, Ivan Lishayev, Pavel Belousev, Nikolai Gusev, Leonid Sakharov, Aleksander Chuganov, Fyodor Dobrovidov, Lev Dobek, Andrei Leontev, Ivan Sokolov, Ivan Svetlov, Vladimir Semenov, Valentin Semenov-Vasilev, Vasili Kamelkov, Georgi Lokhov, Aleksei Forlov, Ivan Ivanov, Vasili Karamsin, Aleksandr Krasilnikov, Aleksandr Zhukov, etc. Full list at:
and on the Tannenberg Line (Sinimäed). In 1944, in the face of the country being re-occupied by the Red Army, 80000 people fled from Estonia by sea to Finland and Sweden, becoming war refugees and later, expatriate
s. 25,000 Estonians reached Sweden and a further 42,000 Germany. During the war about 8 000 Estonian Swedes and their family members had emigrated to Sweden. After the retreat of Germans, about 30,000 Estonian partisans remained in hiding in the Estonian forests, further on leading a massive guerrilla war. In 1949 27,650 Soviet troops still led the war against the local partisans. Only the 1949 mass deportation when about 21,000 people were taken away broke the basis of the partisan movement. 6600 partisans gave themselves up in November 1949. Later on the failure of the Hungarian uprising broke the resistance morale of the 700 men still remaining under cover. According to the Soviet data, up to 1953, 20,351 partisans were disarmed. Of these, 1510 perished in the battles. During that period, 1 728 members of the Red Army, NKVD and the militia were killed by the "forest brothers
". August Sabbe, the last surviving Forest Brother in Estonia, was discovered and killed by KGB agents in 1978.
During the first post-war decade of Soviet regime, Estonia was governed by Moscow via Russian-born Estonian governors. Born into the families of native Estonians in Russia, the latter had obtained their Red education in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist repressions at the end of the 1930s. Many of them had fought in the Red Army (in the Estonian Rifle Corps), few of them had mastered the Estonian language.
Although the United States and the United Kingdom, the allies of the USSR against Germany during World War II, recognized the occupation of the Republic of Estonia by USSR at Yalta Conference
in 1945 de facto, the governments of the rest of the western democracies did not recognize the seizure of Estonia by the USSR in 1940 and in 1944 de jure
according to the Sumner Welles
' declaration of 23 July 1940; such countries recognized Estonian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in many countries in the name of their former governments. These ageing diplomats persisted in this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Estonia's independence in 1991.
On 23 February. 1989 The flag of the Estonian SSR was lowered on Pikk Hermann
. It was replaced with the flag of Estonia
on 24 February 1989.
The first freely elected parliament during the Soviet era in Estonia had passed independence resolutions on 8 May 1990, and renamed Estonian SSR to the Republic of Estonia. On 20 August 1991 the Estonian parliament issued the Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union. On 6 September 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR recognized the independence of Estonia., immediately followed by the international recognitions of the Republic of Estonia.
In 1992, Heinrich Mark
, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia in duties of the President in exile, presented his credentials to the newly elected President of Estonia Lennart Meri
.
The last Soviet troops withdrew from Estonia in August 1994.
of Russian SFSR and Arnold Rüütel
of the Republic of Estonia
met in Tallinn and signed a treaty governing the relations of the two countries after the anticipated independence of Estonia from the Soviet Union
. The treaty guaranteed the right to freely choose their citizenship for all residents of the former Estonian SSR.
Russia re-recognized the Republic of Estonia on 24 August 1991, after the failed Soviet coup attempt, as one of the first countries to do so. Diplomatic relations were established on 24 October 1991. The Soviet Union recognized the independence of Estonia on 6 September.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union
in December 1991, the Russian Federation
became an independent country. Russia was widely accepted as the Soviet Union's successor state in diplomatic affairs and it assumed the USSR's permanent membership and veto in the UN Security Council
; see Russia's membership in the United Nations
.
Estonia's ties with Boris Yeltsin weakened since the Russian leader's initial show of solidarity with the Baltic states in January 1991. Issues surrounding the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Baltic republics and Estonia's denial of automatic citizenship to persons who settled in Estonia in 1941–1991 and well offspring ranked high on the list of points of contention.
In the fall of 1991, as Estonia laid down its new citizenship policy, the Soviet Union called the move a violation of human rights. Under the citizenship policy, most of the country's large (mostly Russophone
) minority of Soviet immigrants from period of 1941–1991, as well as their offspring, were denied automatic citizenship. They could gain citizenship through a naturalisation process that included tests on local language and constitution, as well as long-time residency requirement. The Soviet government linked further withdrawal of troops from Estonia to a satisfactory change in Estonia's citizenship stance. In response, Estonia denied the accusations of violations of human rights and invited more than a dozen international fact-finding groups to visit the country for verification. In January 1992, some 25,000 troops were reported left in Estonia, the smallest contingent in the Baltic states. Still, more than 800 square kilometres of land, including an inland artillery range, remained in the Russian military's hands. More than 150 battle tanks, 300 armored vehicles, and 163 battle aircraft also remained.
On 1 July 1993, angered by Estonian Aliens Act, Russia's Supreme Soviet passed a resolution “On measures in connection with the violation of human rights on the territory of the Estonian Republic”, calling for sanctions against Estonia, including a complete halt of the troops pullout.
As the propaganda war and negotiations dragged on, Estonia and the other two Baltic countries gained international support for their position on troop withdrawal at a July 1992 summit of the CSCE
in Helsinki. The final communiqué called on Russia to act "without delay /.../ for the early, orderly and complete withdrawal" of foreign troops from the Baltic states. Resolutions also were passed in the United States Senate in 1992 and 1993 linking the issue of troop withdrawals to continued United States aid to Russia.
Yet, Estonian and Russian negotiators remained deadlocked throughout 1993. At several points, President Yeltsin and other Russian officials called an official halt to the pullout, but the unofficial withdrawal of forces continued. By the end of 1992, about 16,000 troops remained. A year later, that number was down to fewer than 3,500, and more than half of the army bases had been turned over to Estonian defense officials. The Estonian and Russian sides continued to disagree, primarily over the pace of Russia's withdrawal from the town of Paldiski
, on the northern coast some thirty-five kilometers west of Tallinn. The Soviet navy had built a submarine base there that included two nuclear submarine training reactors. Russian officials maintained that dismantling the reactor facility would take time; Estonia demanded faster action along with international supervision of the process.
It was not until 31 August 1994 that the last Soviet troops left Estonia, as Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Lennart Meri
had signed an agreement on 26 July 1994 for the complete withdrawal of Russian troops. The last Russian warship, carrying ten T-72 tanks, departed in August 1994. However, Russia was to retain control of the reactor facility in Paldiski until September 1995. On 30 September 1995 the decommissioning of the Paldiski nuclear base was completed.
During Perestroika
, the reassessment era of Soviet history in USSR, in 1989 the USSR condemned the 1939 secret protocol
between Nazi Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries. The collapse of the Soviet Union
led to the restoration of the Republic of Estonia's sovereignty (See History of Estonia: Regaining independence.)
According to the Government of Estonia, the European Court of Human Rights
, EU, USA Estonia remained occupied by the Soviet Union until restoration of its independence in 1991 and the 48 years of Soviet occupation and annexation was never recognized as legal by the Western democracies.
Russian government and officials continue to maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states
was legitimate and that the Soviet Union liberated the countries from the Nazis They state that the Soviet troops had entered the Baltic countries in 1940 following the agreements and with the consent of the governments of the Baltic republics. They maintain that the USSR was not in a state of war and was not waging any combat activities on the territory of the three Baltic states, therefore, the argument goes, the word 'occupation' can not be used. "The assertions about [the] 'occupation' by the Soviet Union and the related claims ignore all legal, historical and political realities, and are therefore utterly groundless." (Russian Foreign Ministry)
However the fact was that consent was coerced after Soviet troops were massed on the border. The Soviet 8th army was dispatched to Pskov on 14 September 1939, and the mobilized 7th army placed under the Leningrad Military District. On 26 September, the Leningrad Military District was ordered to "start concentrating troops on the Estonian-Latvian border and to finish that operation on 29 September." The order noted, "for the time of starting the attack a separate directive will be issued." Altogether, by the beginning of October, 1939, the Soviets had amassed along the Estonia-Latvia border:
Estonian and Russian negotiators reached a technical border agreement in December 1996, with the border remaining substantially the same as the one drawn by Stalin, with some minor adjustments. The border treaty was initialed in 1999. On 18 May 2005 Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet
and his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov signed in Moscow the “Treaty between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Russian Federation on the Estonian-Russian border” and the “Treaty between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Russian Federation on the Delimitation of the Maritime Zones in the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Narva”. The Riigikogu
(Estonian Parliament) ratified the treaties on 20 June 2005, with a reference to the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty in the preamble of the ratification law, placing the new border treaty in context of internal Estonian law as amending the original 1920 border. The President of Estonia Arnold Rüütel
proclaimed the treaties on 22 June 2005. As proposed by the Russian Government on 13 August 2005, on 31 August 2005 Russian President Vladimir Putin
gave a written order to the Russian Foreign Ministry to notify the Estonian side of “Russia’s intention not to participate in the border treaties between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Estonia”. On 6 September 2005 the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation sent to Estonia a note, in which Russia informed that it did not intend to become a party to the border treaties between Estonia and Russia and did not consider itself bound by the circumstances concerning the object and the purposes of the treaties.
s in Estonia increased from less than a tenth to over a third, and to almost half in the capital Tallinn
, and even to a majority in some districts in North East Estonia. (See Demographics of Estonia
and Estonian SSR: Demographic changes.) In contrast to the long-standing pre-World War II Russian minority in Estonia, these were Soviet economic migrants. Russian was an official language in parallel to, and in practice often instead of, Estonian in Estonian SSR and there were no integration efforts during the Soviet time, resulting in considerable groups of people knowing very little or no Estonian.
After Estonia re-established independence, Estonian again became the only official language
.
The mass deportations of ethnic Estonians during the Soviet era together with migration into Estonia from other parts of the Soviet Union resulted in the share of ethnic Estonians in the country decreasing from 88% in 1934 to 62% in 1989. (See Demographics of Estonia
.)
In 1992, the Citizenship Act of the Republic of Estonia was reinstated according to the pre-Soviet invasion status quo in 1940. Throughout the years of occupations (the major democracies of the world never accepted the forcible incorporation of the Baltic States
by the USSR in 1940), the pre-Soviet invasion Estonian citizens and their descendants never lost their citizenship, regardless of their ethnic origin, be it Estonian, Russian (8.2% of the citizenry by the 1934 census), German or any other, according to the jus sanguinis
principle. Conditions for acquiring and receiving Estonian citizenship for post-1940 settlers and their descendants in Estonia are an examination in knowledge of the Estonian language
and an examination in knowledge of the Constitution of Estonia
and the Law. Applicants for Estonian citizenship who were born prior to 1 January 1930, or hearing or speech disabled, permanently disabled, et cetera, are exempt from the requirements.
Currently about a third of Estonia's Russophone
s are Estonian citizens, another third have Russian citizenship. At the same time in 2006 around 9% of Estonia's residents were of undefined citizenship. While there have been calls for the return of all Estonia's Russians to Russia, the Government of Estonia has been adopting an integration policy, advocating an idea that Estonia's residents should possess at least a basic knowledge of the Estonian language
.
People who arrived in the country after 1940 qualify for naturalization if they have general knowledge of Estonian language and the Constitution, have legally resided in Estonia for at least eight years, the last five of them permanently, have a registered place of residence in Estonia and a permanent legal income. Russia has repeatedly condemned Estonian citizenship laws and demanded that Estonia grant its citizenship without (or by a greatly simplified) naturalization procedure. The perceived difficulty of the language tests necessary for naturalisation has been one of the controversial issues.
In February 2002, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeni Gussarov presented to Estonian ambassador Karin Jaani a non-paper list of seven demands to be fulfilled by Estonia in order to improve the relations of the two countries. These demands included making Russian an official language in the regions where the russophone minority was actually a majority, granting citizenship by naturalization to at least 20,000 residents annually, stopping prosecuting the persons who had been involved in the deportation of Estonians, official registering the Russian Orthodox Church, providing secondary and higher education in Russian language.
in Soviet speech
), glorification of Nazism and Estonia's collaboration with Germans in World War II, resurrection of Nazism
and being pro-Nazi against Estonia by official spokesmen and Jewish religious leaders of Russia, as well as by international spokesmen and associations, including René van der Linden
and Efraim Zuroff
.
According to Economist: What really annoys the Kremlin is that Estonians regarded the arrival of the Red Army in 1944–45 as the exchange of one ghastly occupation for another instead of a liberation. The Estonian Education Minister Tõnis Lukas has said "We do not glorify the Nazis in any way, but Moscow seems very upset that Estonia considers the Nazi era and Stalinism as equally evil and criminal regimes."
A controversial monument
had been erected by a private group in the seaside town of Pärnu
in 2002. It honoured Estonian soldiers who fought the Red Army during World War II and was reported as "SS monument" by some news agencies, including BBC. The Monument hadn't been formally unveiled and had been taken down shortly afterward amid criticisms of the international community. In 2004 the same monument
was re-erected in the town of Lihula
, however it was removed by the Estonian government after 9 days amid violent protests from some monument supporters. The monument depicts an Estonian soldier in a German-type military uniform, and according to a journalist of the Baltic Times, with a Waffen-SS (combat SS) unit emblem. However a semiotic analysis by professor Peeter Torop
of University of Tartu
, consulting for the Lihula police department, concluded that no Nazi or SS symbolics whatsoever appear in the bas-relief.
There are legitimate organizations representing Waffen SS veterans in Estonia, and former Waffen SS soldiers are paid pensions by the German government. While the Nuremberg Trials
condemned the Waffen-SS as part of a criminal organisation, conscripts were exempted from that judgment due to being involuntarily mobilized. Conscripting natives of occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva Convention. The 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) is an example of such a conscript formation, the units cannot be accused of committing crimes against humanity.
According to The New York Times
: "Many Russians have accused countries once under the Kremlin’s sway, including Estonia, of not pursuing a full account of some of their citizens’ collaborations with the Nazis." Martin Arpo, superintendent of Security Police Board disagrees with this Russian view, saying "Both regimes were criminal and committed criminal acts and brought suffering to the Estonian people. But the local K.G.B.
couldn’t find any more evidence against the Nazi collaborators. We haven’t found it either. And the K.G.B. was a much larger organization than we are and had powers and methods, shall we say, that are not available to a Western democratic country."
, claimed (in 2005) that "there is discrimination against the Russian-speaking minority (not only ethnic Russians but also Russian-speaking Jews)." The Federal Migration Service of Russia has supported a law that would set a language test for anyone planning to work in Russia for more than one year. "It is obvious that without knowledge of the Russian language it is impossible to integrate into Russian society," the Russian Migration Service has said. The Russian law applies to new immigrants. The law of citizenship of Republic of Estonia denied in 1991 automatic citizenship of the country to all Soviet immigrants who had moved into Estonian SSR, when the territory of Estonia was under Soviet jurisdiction in 1940–1941 and 1944–1991, as well as to their descendants born before 1992. Non-citizen parents can request expedited citizenship for their children born after 1992 if they have been residents of Estonia for five years. Continuity of citizenship applied automatically to Russophones who were citizens or descendants of citizens of Republic of Estonia prior 1940.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) 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, the European Centre for Minority Issues
has also criticised what is sees as Estonia's harsh treatment of its Russian population, and has condemned the ostensible lack of legal protection offered to minorities. The forum Development and Transition, which is sponsored by the United Nations, published an article in its newsletter on November 2005 where Professor James Hughes argues that Latvia and Estonia employ a "sophisticated and extensive policy regime of discrimination" against their respective Russophone
parts of the population. . However in that same newsletter Professor Hughes arguments were opposed by former Latvian minister for social integration Dr. Nils Muiznieks who argued his views were simplistic and "similar to what Russian propaganda has been touting in international fora over the last 10 years".
Although the OSCE and other international organizations, such as the Finnish Helsinki Committee, have found the Citizenship Law to be satisfactory, the Russian Government and members of the local ethnic Russian community continued to criticize it as discriminatory, notably for its Estonian language requirements. In September 2003, a visiting NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation concluded that the country had no major problems in treatment of its Russian minority.
Dr. Kara Brown has claimed in her 1997 report at Indiana University newsletter that "the Russian government, disregarding the fact that Estonia's Russian speakers willingly have chosen to stay [in Estonia], has used the excuse of alleged minority-right infringements as justification for a possible armed invasion. She suggested that, once in Estonia, these Russian troops would 'secure' the rights of these Russian-speakers who live outside of their homeland. According to K. Brown this vow of 'support' only aggravates attempts being made by the Russian speakers to solve their political problems independently and jeopardizes the development of healthy foreign relations between Estonia and Russia. However, this "Russian Plan for Invasion of the Baltic States," (as published in The Baltic Independent in 1995), had never been implemented, nor it's authenticity had been confirmed by the independent sources. Estonian media have repeatedly claimed that Russian politicians called for military action against Estonia to protect the "compatriots", most recently this accusation had been fielded against Dmitry Rogozin
during the Bronze Soldier crisis.
In 2005, the Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts
expressed concerns about alleged Russian violations of human and cultural rights of the Mari people, who are ethnically related to the Estonian people. Estonian Institute for Human Rights claims Russia persecutes Mari journalists and oppositions leaders. Several journalists have been killed while in the cultural sphere TV and radio programmes in Mari language in the autonomous Republic of Mari El
are restricted to a minimum of a brief news segment on the TV and Mari language radio broadcasting has been severely curtailed as well. The EU subsequently passed a resolution strongly condemning the violations of human rights by the Russian authorities in Mari El.
. This made it impossible to register the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate
, which had collaborated with the Soviet occupation. The main issue was, which of the two owned the property of the Orthodox church in Estonia, held by the Moscow Patriarchate until 1923, then by the Church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate until the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, and consequently handed to the Moscow Patriarchate by the Soviet government. Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was registered in Estonia in April 2002.
and exhumation of the bodies buried from a square in the center of Tallinn to a military cemetery in April 2007 provoked a harsh Russian reaction. The Federation Council
, on 27 April, approved a statement concerning the monument, which urges the Russian authorities to take the "toughest possible measures" against Estonia. First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov said that adequate measures, primarily, economic ones, should be taken against Estonia. Belittling the World War II heroes' feats and desecrating monuments erected in their memory leads to discord and mistrust between countries and peoples, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Victory Day 2007. In the days following the relocation, the Embassy of Estonia in Moscow
was besieged by protesters, including pro-Kremlin youth organisations Nashi
and the Young Guard of United Russia. Estonia's president Toomas Hendrik Ilves
expressed his astonishment that Russia has — despite the promises of foreign minister Lavrov — not taken actions to protect the diplomatic personnel. On 2 May, a small group of protesters attempted to disrupt a press conference the Estonian ambassador to Russia, Marina Kaljurand
was holding at the offices of the Moscow newspaper, Argumenty i Fakty
, but were held back by security guards. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the Ambassador confirmed to them that her bodyguard used pepper spray
against the protesters. Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet
suggested to consider calling off the upcoming EU-Russia Summit that was due to take place on 18 May).
, banks, ministries, newspapers and broadcasters, amid the Estonian-Russian row about the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn
relocation. Estonian officials accused Russia of unleashing cyberwar.
and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves
met in Khanty-Mansiysk
in June 2008 at the 5th World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples, marking the first meeting between leaders of the two states in fourteen years. On the meeting between the two presidents, Sergey Prikhodko, Aide to the Russian President, stated that "(t)here have been much warmer meetings. During the meeting, Ilves stated that rhetoric from both countries should be toned down, with Medvedev responding by saying that the Estonian President often made harsh statements against Russia, whereas he did not do the same about Estonia. In his speech at the Congress, Ilves states “Freedom and democracy were our choice 150 years ago. Even poets didn’t dream about state independence at that time. Many Finno-Ugric peoples haven’t made their choice yet.” This led Russian representatives to believe that Ilves was calling for the breakup of the Russian state. Konstantin Kosachev, the Chairman of the International Affairs Committee in the State Duma
, in response stated that Estonia and the European Parliament had demanded investigations into the 2005 attacks on a Mari activist, and had used the attack as evidence of discrimination of the Mari people in Russia, yet ignored calls for investigations on attacks on ethnic Russians, which included the murder of one, in the wake of the Bronze Soldier
controversy. Kosachev's speech led Ilves and the rest of the Estonian delegation to leave the conference hall in protest. Ilves later stated that "to read into the speech anything requires a hyperactive and distorted imagination".
data, in 2007, Estonia was considered an enemy of Russia by 60 percent of Russia's citizens (cf. 28% in 2006, 32% in 2005), more than any other country in the world, followed by Georgia
, Latvia and United States. The poll was conducted two weeks after the Bronze Soldier relocation to a military cemetery and exhumation of the bodies buried there.
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
between Estonia and Russia. Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
and the Russian SFSR were established on 2 February 1920, when Bolshevist Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
recognized de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
the independence of the Republic of Estonia, and renounced in perpetuity all rights to the territory of Estonia, via the Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Estonian)
Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Estonian)
Tartu Peace Treaty or Treaty of Tartu was a peace treaty between Estonia and Russian SFSR signed on February 2, 1920 ending the Estonian War of Independence. The terms of the treaty stated that "Russia unreservedly recognises" the independence of Republic of Estonia de jure and renounced in...
. At the time, the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s had just gained control of the majority of Russian territory, and their government's legitimacy was being hotly contested by Western powers and the Russian White movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
.
Estonia and Kievan Rus
Yaroslav I the Wise
Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise (Old Norse: Jarizleifr; ; Old East Slavic and Russian: Ярослав Мудрый; Ukrainian: Ярослав Мудрий; c...
of Kievan Rus organised a military expedition to the territory of Ancient Estonia
Ancient Estonia
Ancient Estonia refers to a period covering History of Estonia from the middle of the 8th millennium BC until the conquest and subjugation of the Estonian people in the first quarter of the 13th century during the Northern Crusades.-The Mesolithic Period:...
and built a fort he called Yuryev on the site of the Estonian stronghold of Tarbatu in Ugaunia
Ugaunia
Ugandi was an independent country between the east coast of Lake Võrtsjärv and west coast of Lake Pskov, bordered by Vaiga, Mõhu, Nurmekund, Sakala, Tālava, and The Principality of Pskov. Ugandi had an area of approximately 3000 hides...
, where Tartu
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...
is now located. In 1061, Estonians/Ugaunians
Ugaunians
Ungannians or Ugandians , referred to as Chudes by the earliest Russian chronicles were historical Finnic people inhabiting the ancient southern Estonian Ugandi County :Ungannia) that is now Tartu, Põlva, Võru and Valga counties of Estonia.-The name and the territory:In modern Estonian...
took back the territories. During the reign of Yaroslav the Wise the first Russian Christian Church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
es were founded in Estonia. However, Estonia was not Christianised until the 13th century by German and Danish crusaders.
Estonia and Tsardom of Russia
In 1558 Ivan IV of RussiaIvan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
invaded Livonian Confederation
Livonian Confederation
Terra Mariana was the official name for Medieval Livonia or Old Livonia which was formed in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade in the territories comprising present day Estonia and Latvia...
(the territory of the present-day Estonia and Latvia). Starting the Livonian War
Livonian War
The Livonian War was fought for control of Old Livonia in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia when the Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of Denmark–Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland.During the period 1558–1578,...
(1558–1582), a military conflict between the Tsardom of Russia
Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia was the name of the centralized Russian state from Ivan IV's assumption of the title of Tsar in 1547 till Peter the Great's foundation of the Russian Empire in 1721.From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 a year...
and a coalition of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
, Kingdom of Poland
Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)
The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...
(later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
), and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Treaty of Jam Zapolski in 1582 between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Russia renounced its claims to Livonia. The following year, the Tsar also made peace with Sweden. Under the Treaty of Plussa
Treaty of Plussa
The Treaty or Truce of Plussa, Pljussa, Plyussa or Narva and Plusa was a truce between Russia and Sweden, which ended the Livonian War . The truce was signed on 10 August 1583 at the Plyussa River in the Pskov region...
, Russia lost Narva and the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...
, being its only access to the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. The situation was partially reversed 12 years later, according to the Treaty of Tyavzino
Treaty of Tyavzino
The Treaty of Teusina, Tyavzin or Tyavzino , also known as the Eternal Peace with Sweden in Russia, was concluded by Russian diplomats under boyar Afanasiy Pushkin and ambassadors of the Swedish king at the village of Tyavzino in Ingria on May 18, 1595 to end the Russo-Swedish War between the...
which concluded a new war between Sweden and Russia.
Great Northern War
Sweden's defeat in the Great Northern WarGreat Northern War
The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...
in 1721 resulted the Treaty of Nystad
Treaty of Nystad
The Treaty of Nystad was the last peace treaty of the Great Northern War. It was concluded between the Tsardom of Russia and Swedish Empire on 30 August / 10 September 1721 in the then Swedish town of Nystad , after Sweden had settled with the other parties in Stockholm and Frederiksborg.During...
, the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
gained the Sweden's Baltic territories Estonia (nowadays northern Estonia) and Livonia, (nowadays southern Estonia and northern Latvia). The legal system, Lutheran church, local and town governments, and education remained mostly German until the late 19th century and partially until 1918.
By 1819, the Baltic provinces
Baltic provinces
The Baltic governorates , originally the Ostsee governorates is a collective name for the administrative units of the Russian Empire set up at the territories of Swedish Estonia, Swedish Livonia and, afterwards, of Duchy of Courland and Semigallia .-History:The Treaty of Vilnius of 1561 included...
were the first in the Russian empire in which serfdom was abolished, the largely autonomous nobility allowing the peasants to own their own land or move to the cities. These moves created the economic foundation for the coming to life of the local national identity and culture as Estonia was caught in a current of national awakening that began sweeping through Europe in the mid-19th century.
Estonian Declaration of Independence
During World War I, between the retreating Russian and advancing German troops on 24 February 1918 the Salvation CommitteeSalvation Committee
The Estonian Salvation Committee was the executive body of the Estonian Provincial Assembly that issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence....
of the Estonian National Council Maapäev
Maapäev
The Estonian Provincial Assembly was elected after the February Revolution in 1917 as the national diet of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia in Russian Empire....
issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence
Estonian Declaration of Independence
The Estonian Declaration of Independence, also known as the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia , is the founding act of the Republic of Estonia from 1918. It is celebrated on 24 February, the National Day or Estonian Independence Day....
.
Estonian War of Independence
The Estonian War of Independence (1918–1920), took place during the Russian Civil WarRussian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, was the Republic of Estonia's struggle for sovereignty in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
.
Treaty of Tartu
The Treaty of TartuTreaty of Tartu (Russian–Estonian)
Tartu Peace Treaty or Treaty of Tartu was a peace treaty between Estonia and Russian SFSR signed on February 2, 1920 ending the Estonian War of Independence. The terms of the treaty stated that "Russia unreservedly recognises" the independence of Republic of Estonia de jure and renounced in...
was a peace treaty between Estonia and Russian SFSR signed on 2 February 1920 ending the Estonian War of Independence.
Comintern
Soviet foreign policy and the Comintern.In 1920 the rules were laid down in Russia at the Comintern's Second Congress, Communist parties abroad were to be created either afresh or else by splitting Social Democratic parties; in any case, they were to be accountable to Moscow and not to their domestic constituencies.
Vladimir Lenin's incapacity and death (21 January 1924) triggered a struggle for power between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. During the struggle Soviet foreign policy drifted.
On 1 December 1924 an attempted communist coup in Estonia conducted by Comintern
Treaties between Estonia and USSR
Before World War II, the Republic of Estonia and USSR had both signed and ratified following treaties:Kellogg-Briand Pact
- 27 August 1928 Kellogg-Briand PactKellogg-Briand PactThe Kellogg–Briand Pact was an agreement signed on August 27, 1928, by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Weimar Germany and a number of other countries.The pact renounced war , prohibiting the use of war...
renouncing war as an instrument of national policy Ratified by Estonia and USSR on 24 July 1929
Non-aggression treaty
- Estonia, USSR on 4 May 1932
The Convention for the Definition of Aggression
- On 3 July 1933 for the first time in the history of international relationsInternational relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, aggressionAggressionIn psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause humiliation, pain, or harm. Ferguson and Beaver defined aggressive behavior as "Behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of...
was defined in a binding treaty signed at the Soviet Embassy in London by USSR and among others, The Republic of Estonia.
- Article II defines forms of aggression. There shall be recognized as an aggressor that State which shall be the first to have committed one of the following actions:
- Relevant chapters:
- Second– invasion by armed forces of the territory of another State even without a declaration of war.
- Fourth– a naval blockade of coasts or ports of another State.
Beginning of World War II
The fate of the relations between USSR and Republic of Estonia before World War II was decided by the German-Soviet Nonaggression PactMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
and its Secret Additional Protocol of August 1939.
1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
.
3 September, Great Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Germany
14 September, the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł
ORP Orzeł
Three boats of the Polish Navy have been named ORP Orzeł :* ORP Orzeł was an commissioned in 1939 and lost in 1940.* ORP Orzeł was a commissioned in 1962 and decommissioned in 1983....
reached Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, Estonia
17 September, Soviet Union invaded Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland (1939)
The 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland was a Soviet military operation that started without a formal declaration of war on 17 September 1939, during the early stages of World War II. Sixteen days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west, the Soviet Union did so from the east...
18 September, Orzeł incident, the Polish submarine escaped from internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
in Tallinn and eventually made her way to the United Kingdom, Estonia's neutrality questioned by the Soviet Union and Germany.
On 24 September 1939 Warships of the Red Navy appeared off Estonian ports, Soviet bombers began a threatening patrol over Tallinn and the nearby countryside. In light of the Orzeł incident, the Moscow press and radio started violently attacking Estonia as "hostile" to the Soviet Union. Moscow demanded that Estonia allow the USSR to establish military bases and station 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for the duration of the European war. The government of Estonia accepted the ultimatum signing the corresponding agreement on 28 September. 1939.
The Pact was made for ten years:
- 1) Estonia granted the USSR the right to maintain naval bases and airdromes protected by Red ArmyRed ArmyThe Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
troops on the strategic islands dominating Tallinn, the Gulf of FinlandGulf of FinlandThe Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn...
and the Gulf of RigaGulf of RigaThe Gulf of Riga, or Bay of Riga, is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. According to C.Michael Hogan, a saline stratification layer is found at a depth of approximately seventy metres....
; - 2) Soviet Union agreed to increase her annual trade turnover with Estonia and to give Estonia facilities in case the Baltic is closed to her goods for trading with the outside world via Soviet ports on the Black Sea and White Sea;
- 3) USSR and Estonia undertooke to defend each other from "aggression arising on the part of any great European power"
- 4) It was declared: the Pact "should not affect" the "economic systems and state organizations" of USSR and Estonia.
Soviet annexation 1940
On 12 June 1940 the order for total military blockade of Estonia was given to the Soviet Baltic FleetBaltic Fleet
The Twice Red Banner Baltic Fleet - is the Russian Navy's presence in the Baltic Sea. In previous historical periods, it has been part of the navy of Imperial Russia and later the Soviet Union. The Fleet gained the 'Twice Red Banner' appellation during the Soviet period, indicating two awards of...
On 14 June, the Soviet military blockade of Estonia took effect. Two Soviet bombers downed a Finnish passenger airplane Kaleva
Kaleva (airplane)
Kaleva, registered OH-ALL, was a civilian Junkers Ju 52 passenger and transport plane, belonging to the Finnish carrier Aero O/Y. The aircraft was shot down by two Soviet Ilyushin DB-3 bombers during peacetime between the Soviet Union and Finland on June 14, 1940, while en route from Tallinn to...
flying from Tallinn to Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
and carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U.S. legations in Tallinn, Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
and Helsinki.
On 16 June 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Estonia. The Red Army exited from their military bases in Estonia, some 90,000 additional Soviet troops entered the country. Molotov had accused the Baltic states of conspiracy against the Soviet Union and delivered an ultimatum to Estonia for the establishment of a government the Soviets approve of. The Estonian government decided according to the Kellogg-Briand Pact
Kellogg-Briand Pact
The Kellogg–Briand Pact was an agreement signed on August 27, 1928, by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Weimar Germany and a number of other countries.The pact renounced war , prohibiting the use of war...
not to use war as an instrument of national policy. Given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, not to resist, to avoid bloodshed and open war.
On 17 June Estonia accepted the ultimatum and the statehood of Estonia de facto ceased to exist, the day France surrendered to Germany. The military occupation
Military occupation
Military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army. The territory then becomes occupied territory.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...
of the Republic of Estonia was complete by 21 June 1940 and rendered "official" by a communist coup d'état supported by the Soviet troops.
Most of the Estonian Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League
Estonian Defence League
The Estonian Defence League is the name of the unified paramilitary armed forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Defence League is a paramilitary defence organization which aim is to guarantee the preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the state, the integrity of its land area and its...
surrendered
Surrender (military)
Surrender is when soldiers, nations or other combatants stop fighting and eventually become prisoners of war, either as individuals or when ordered to by their officers. A white flag is a common symbol of surrender, as is the gesture of raising one's hands empty and open above one's head.When the...
according to the orders believing that resistance was useless and were disarmed by the Red Army. Only the Estonian Independent Signal Battalion stationed in Tallinn at Raua Street showed resistance. As the Red Army brought in additional reinforcements supported by six armoured fighting vehicle
Armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and armed with weapons. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked....
s, the battle lasted several hours until sundown. There was one dead, several wounded on the Estonian side and about 10 killed and more wounded on the Soviet side. Finally the military resistance was ended with negotiations and the Single Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed.
On the same day 21 June 1940 the flag of Estonia
Flag of Estonia
The national flag of Estonia is a tricolour featuring three equal horizontal bands of blue , black, and white. The normal size is 105 × 165 cm...
was replaced with a red flag
Red flag
In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...
on Pikk Hermann
Pikk Hermann
Pikk Hermann is a tower of the Toompea Castle, on Toompea hill in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The first part was built 1360-70. It was rebuilt in the 16th century...
tower, the symbol of the government in Estonia in force.
14–15 July rigged "parliamentary elections" were held where all but pro-Communist candidates were outlawed. Those who failed to have their passports stamped for so voting were allowed to be shot in the back of the head. Tribunals were set up to punish "traitors to the people." those who had fallen short of the "political duty" of voting Estonia into the USSR. The "parliament" so elected proclaimed Estonia a Socialist Republic on 21 July 1940 and unanimously requested Estonia to be "accepted" into the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Estonia was formally annexed into the Soviet Union on 6 August and renamed the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic , often abbreviated as Estonian SSR or ESSR, was a republic of the Soviet Union, administered by and subordinated to the Government of the Soviet Union...
. The 1940 occupation and annexation of Estonia into the Soviet Union was considered illegal and never officially recognized
Stimson Doctrine
The Stimson Doctrine is a policy of the United States federal government, enunciated in a note of January 7, 1932, to Japan and China, of non-recognition of international territorial changes that were executed by force. The doctrine was an application of the principle of ex injuria jus non oritur...
by Great Britain, the United States and other Western democracies.
Soviet terror
During the first year of Soviet occupation (1940–1941) over 8,000 people, including most of the country's leading politicians and military officers, were arrested. About 2,200 of the arrested were executed in Estonia, while most others were moved to prison camps in Russia, from where very few were later able to return alive. On 19 July 1940 the Commander-in-chiefCommander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the Estonian Army Johan Laidoner
Johan Laidoner
Johan Laidoner was a seminal figure of Estonian history between the world wars. His highest position was Commander-in-chief of the Estonian Army in 1918–1920, 1924–1925, and 1934–1940.-Education:Laidoner was born in Viiratsi , Governorate of Livonia, then part of the Russian Empire...
was captured by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and deported together with his spouse to the Town of Penza
Penza
-Honors:A minor planet, 3189 Penza, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1978, is named after the city.-Notable residents:...
. Laidoner died in the Vladimir Prison Camp, Russia on 13 March 1953. President of Estonia
President of Estonia
The President of the Republic is the head of state of the Republic of Estonia.Estonia is a parliamentary republic, therefore President is mainly a symbolic figure and holds no executive power. The President has to suspend his membership in any political party for his term in office...
, Konstantin Päts
Konstantin Päts
Konstantin Päts VR I/1 and III/1 was the most influential politician of interwar Estonia. He was one of the first Estonians to become active in politics and started an almost 40-year political rivalry with Jaan Tõnisson, first through journalism with his newspaper Teataja, later through politics...
was arrested and deported by the Soviets to Ufa
Ufa
-Demographics:Nationally, dominated by Russian , Bashkirs and Tatars . In addition, numerous are Ukrainians , Chuvash , Mari , Belarusians , Mordovians , Armenian , Germans , Jews , Azeris .-Government and administration:Local...
in Russia on 30 July, he died in a psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
in Kalinin (now Tver
Tver
Tver is a city and the administrative center of Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: 403,726 ; 408,903 ;...
) in Russia in 1956. 800 Estonian officers, i.e., about a half of the total were executed, arrested or starved to death in prison camps
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
.
On 14 June 1941, when June deportation
June deportation
June deportation was the first in the series of mass Soviet deportations of tens of thousands of people from the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova starting June 14, 1941 that followed the occupation and annexation of the Baltic states. The procedure for deporting the "anti-Soviet...
took place simultaneously in all three Baltic countries, about 10,000 Estonian civilians were deported to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
and other remote areas of the Soviet Union, where nearly half of them later perished. Of the 32,100 Estonian men who were forcibly relocated to Russia under the pretext of mobilisation into the Red Army after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, nearly 40 percent died within the next year in the "labour battalion
Labour battalion
Labour battalions have been a form of alternative service or unfree labour in various countries in lieu of or resembling regular military service...
s" through hunger, cold and overworking. During the first Soviet occupation of 1940–41 about 500 Jews were deported to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
.
When Estonia was proclaimed a Soviet republic, the crews of 42 Estonian ships in foreign waters refused to return to homeland (about 40% of Estonian pre-war fleet) These ships were brought into requisition by the British powers and were used in the Atlantic convoys. During the time of the war, approximately 1000 Estonian seamen served at the British militarised merchant marine, 200 of them as officers. A small number of Estonians served in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and in the US Army, altogether no more than two hundred.
Soviet repressions against ethnic Russians
Ethnic Russians in Estonia: Sergei Zarkevich, an activist of Russian organizations in Estonia, The owner of a book store "Russian Book": arrest order issued by NKVD on 23 June 1940, executed on 25 March 1941.Oleg Vasilovski, a former General in the Russian Imperial Army. Arrest order issued by NKVD on 1 July 1940. Further fate unknown. Sergei Klenski, one of the former leaders of the Russian Peasants Labor Party. Arrested on 22 July. On 19 November 1940, sentenced to 8 years in a prison camp. Further fate unknown. Mikhail Aleksandrov, Arseni Zhitkov.
Other ethnic Russians in Estonia arrested and executed by different Soviet War Tribunals in 1940–1941.
Ivan Salnikov, Pavel Mironov, Mihhail Arhipov, Vassili belugin, Vladimir Strekoytov, Vasili Zhilin, Vladimir Utekhin, Sergei Samennikov, Ivan Meitsev, Ivan Yeremeyev, Konstatin Bushuyev, Yegor Andreyev, Nikolai Sausailov, Aleksandr Serpukhov, Konstatin Nosov, Aleksandr Nekrasov, Nikolai Vasilev-Muroman, Aleksei Sinelshikov, Pyotr Molonenkov, Grigory Varlamov, Stepan Pylnikov, Ivan Lishayev, Pavel Belousev, Nikolai Gusev, Leonid Sakharov, Aleksander Chuganov, Fyodor Dobrovidov, Lev Dobek, Andrei Leontev, Ivan Sokolov, Ivan Svetlov, Vladimir Semenov, Valentin Semenov-Vasilev, Vasili Kamelkov, Georgi Lokhov, Aleksei Forlov, Ivan Ivanov, Vasili Karamsin, Aleksandr Krasilnikov, Aleksandr Zhukov, etc. Full list at:
Estonia in the Soviet Union
Soviet forces reconquered Estonia in the autumn of 1944 after fierce battles in the northeast of the country on the Narva riverNarva River
The Narva is a river flowing into the Baltic Sea, the largest river in Estonia. Draining Lake Peipsi, the river forms the border of Estonia and Russia and flows through the towns of Narva/Ivangorod and Narva-Jõesuu into Narva Bay. Though the river is only 77 km long, in terms of volume...
and on the Tannenberg Line (Sinimäed). In 1944, in the face of the country being re-occupied by the Red Army, 80000 people fled from Estonia by sea to Finland and Sweden, becoming war refugees and later, expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
s. 25,000 Estonians reached Sweden and a further 42,000 Germany. During the war about 8 000 Estonian Swedes and their family members had emigrated to Sweden. After the retreat of Germans, about 30,000 Estonian partisans remained in hiding in the Estonian forests, further on leading a massive guerrilla war. In 1949 27,650 Soviet troops still led the war against the local partisans. Only the 1949 mass deportation when about 21,000 people were taken away broke the basis of the partisan movement. 6600 partisans gave themselves up in November 1949. Later on the failure of the Hungarian uprising broke the resistance morale of the 700 men still remaining under cover. According to the Soviet data, up to 1953, 20,351 partisans were disarmed. Of these, 1510 perished in the battles. During that period, 1 728 members of the Red Army, NKVD and the militia were killed by the "forest brothers
Forest Brothers
The Forest Brothers were Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian partisans who waged a guerrilla war against Soviet rule during the Soviet invasion and occupation of the three Baltic states during, and after, World War II...
". August Sabbe, the last surviving Forest Brother in Estonia, was discovered and killed by KGB agents in 1978.
Although the United States and the United Kingdom, the allies of the USSR against Germany during World War II, recognized the occupation of the Republic of Estonia by USSR at Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...
in 1945 de facto, the governments of the rest of the western democracies did not recognize the seizure of Estonia by the USSR in 1940 and in 1944 de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
according to the Sumner Welles
Sumner Welles
Benjamin Sumner Welles was an American government official and diplomat in the Foreign Service. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1937 to 1943, during FDR's presidency.-Early life:Benjamin Sumner Welles was born in...
' declaration of 23 July 1940; such countries recognized Estonian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in many countries in the name of their former governments. These ageing diplomats persisted in this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Estonia's independence in 1991.
On 23 February. 1989 The flag of the Estonian SSR was lowered on Pikk Hermann
Pikk Hermann
Pikk Hermann is a tower of the Toompea Castle, on Toompea hill in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The first part was built 1360-70. It was rebuilt in the 16th century...
. It was replaced with the flag of Estonia
Flag of Estonia
The national flag of Estonia is a tricolour featuring three equal horizontal bands of blue , black, and white. The normal size is 105 × 165 cm...
on 24 February 1989.
The first freely elected parliament during the Soviet era in Estonia had passed independence resolutions on 8 May 1990, and renamed Estonian SSR to the Republic of Estonia. On 20 August 1991 the Estonian parliament issued the Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union. On 6 September 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR recognized the independence of Estonia., immediately followed by the international recognitions of the Republic of Estonia.
In 1992, Heinrich Mark
Heinrich Mark
Heinrich Mark was born on October 1, 1911, in Krootuse, Kõlleste Parish, now in Põlva County, Estonia. He died on August 2, 2004, in Stockholm, Sweden....
, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia in duties of the President in exile, presented his credentials to the newly elected President of Estonia Lennart Meri
Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri was a writer, film director and statesman who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonian independence movement.-Early life:...
.
The last Soviet troops withdrew from Estonia in August 1994.
Estonia and Russian Federation
Russian-Estonian relations were re-established in January 1991, when the presidents Boris YeltsinBoris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
of Russian SFSR and Arnold Rüütel
Arnold Rüütel
Arnold Rüütel OIH was the third President of the Republic of Estonia from October 8, 2001 to October 9, 2006. He was the second President since Estonia regained its independence in 1991....
of the Republic of Estonia
Republic of Estonia 1990-1991
The Republic of Estonia, short: Estonia was a short-lived country located on the present territory of Estonia, 1990 – 1991...
met in Tallinn and signed a treaty governing the relations of the two countries after the anticipated independence of Estonia from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The treaty guaranteed the right to freely choose their citizenship for all residents of the former Estonian SSR.
Russia re-recognized the Republic of Estonia on 24 August 1991, after the failed Soviet coup attempt, as one of the first countries to do so. Diplomatic relations were established on 24 October 1991. The Soviet Union recognized the independence of Estonia on 6 September.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union
History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)
The history of the Soviet Union from 1982 through 1991, spans the period from Leonid Brezhnev's death and funeral until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Due to the years of Soviet military buildup at the expense of domestic development, economic growth stagnated...
in December 1991, the Russian Federation
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
became an independent country. Russia was widely accepted as the Soviet Union's successor state in diplomatic affairs and it assumed the USSR's permanent membership and veto in the UN Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
; see Russia's membership in the United Nations
Russia's membership in the United Nations
Russia's membership in the United Nations after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was the succession of the Soviet Union's seat, including its permanent membership on the UN Security Council...
.
Estonia's ties with Boris Yeltsin weakened since the Russian leader's initial show of solidarity with the Baltic states in January 1991. Issues surrounding the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Baltic republics and Estonia's denial of automatic citizenship to persons who settled in Estonia in 1941–1991 and well offspring ranked high on the list of points of contention.
Withdrawal of Soviet troops
Immediately after regaining the independence, Estonia started to insist that the Soviet Union (and later Russia) should withdraw their troops from Estonian territory and that the process should be completed by the end of the year. The Soviet government responded that withdrawal could not be completed before 1994 due to lack of available housing.In the fall of 1991, as Estonia laid down its new citizenship policy, the Soviet Union called the move a violation of human rights. Under the citizenship policy, most of the country's large (mostly Russophone
Russophone
A Russophone is literally a speaker of the Russian language either natively or by preference. At the same time the term is used in a more specialized meaning to describe the category of people whose cultural background is associated with Russian language regardless of ethnic and territorial...
) minority of Soviet immigrants from period of 1941–1991, as well as their offspring, were denied automatic citizenship. They could gain citizenship through a naturalisation process that included tests on local language and constitution, as well as long-time residency requirement. The Soviet government linked further withdrawal of troops from Estonia to a satisfactory change in Estonia's citizenship stance. In response, Estonia denied the accusations of violations of human rights and invited more than a dozen international fact-finding groups to visit the country for verification. In January 1992, some 25,000 troops were reported left in Estonia, the smallest contingent in the Baltic states. Still, more than 800 square kilometres of land, including an inland artillery range, remained in the Russian military's hands. More than 150 battle tanks, 300 armored vehicles, and 163 battle aircraft also remained.
On 1 July 1993, angered by Estonian Aliens Act, Russia's Supreme Soviet passed a resolution “On measures in connection with the violation of human rights on the territory of the Estonian Republic”, calling for sanctions against Estonia, including a complete halt of the troops pullout.
As the propaganda war and negotiations dragged on, Estonia and the other two Baltic countries gained international support for their position on troop withdrawal at a July 1992 summit of the CSCE
CSCE
CSCE may refer to* Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange which merged to form the New York Board of Trade* Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe...
in Helsinki. The final communiqué called on Russia to act "without delay /.../ for the early, orderly and complete withdrawal" of foreign troops from the Baltic states. Resolutions also were passed in the United States Senate in 1992 and 1993 linking the issue of troop withdrawals to continued United States aid to Russia.
Yet, Estonian and Russian negotiators remained deadlocked throughout 1993. At several points, President Yeltsin and other Russian officials called an official halt to the pullout, but the unofficial withdrawal of forces continued. By the end of 1992, about 16,000 troops remained. A year later, that number was down to fewer than 3,500, and more than half of the army bases had been turned over to Estonian defense officials. The Estonian and Russian sides continued to disagree, primarily over the pace of Russia's withdrawal from the town of Paldiski
Paldiski
Paldiski is a town and Baltic Sea port situated on the Pakri peninsula of north-western Estonia. Originally a Swedish settlement known as Rågervik, it became a Russian naval base in the 18th century. The Russians renamed it Балтийский Порт Paldiski is a town and Baltic Sea port situated on the...
, on the northern coast some thirty-five kilometers west of Tallinn. The Soviet navy had built a submarine base there that included two nuclear submarine training reactors. Russian officials maintained that dismantling the reactor facility would take time; Estonia demanded faster action along with international supervision of the process.
It was not until 31 August 1994 that the last Soviet troops left Estonia, as Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Lennart Meri
Lennart Meri
Lennart Georg Meri was a writer, film director and statesman who served as the second President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonian independence movement.-Early life:...
had signed an agreement on 26 July 1994 for the complete withdrawal of Russian troops. The last Russian warship, carrying ten T-72 tanks, departed in August 1994. However, Russia was to retain control of the reactor facility in Paldiski until September 1995. On 30 September 1995 the decommissioning of the Paldiski nuclear base was completed.
Controversies
The core of the controversy lies in the different interpretations of the historical events during World War II and after.During Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
, the reassessment era of Soviet history in USSR, in 1989 the USSR condemned the 1939 secret protocol
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
between Nazi Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries. The collapse of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
led to the restoration of the Republic of Estonia's sovereignty (See History of Estonia: Regaining independence.)
According to the Government of Estonia, the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
, EU, USA Estonia remained occupied by the Soviet Union until restoration of its independence in 1991 and the 48 years of Soviet occupation and annexation was never recognized as legal by the Western democracies.
Russian government and officials continue to maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
was legitimate and that the Soviet Union liberated the countries from the Nazis They state that the Soviet troops had entered the Baltic countries in 1940 following the agreements and with the consent of the governments of the Baltic republics. They maintain that the USSR was not in a state of war and was not waging any combat activities on the territory of the three Baltic states, therefore, the argument goes, the word 'occupation' can not be used. "The assertions about [the] 'occupation' by the Soviet Union and the related claims ignore all legal, historical and political realities, and are therefore utterly groundless." (Russian Foreign Ministry)
However the fact was that consent was coerced after Soviet troops were massed on the border. The Soviet 8th army was dispatched to Pskov on 14 September 1939, and the mobilized 7th army placed under the Leningrad Military District. On 26 September, the Leningrad Military District was ordered to "start concentrating troops on the Estonian-Latvian border and to finish that operation on 29 September." The order noted, "for the time of starting the attack a separate directive will be issued." Altogether, by the beginning of October, 1939, the Soviets had amassed along the Estonia-Latvia border:
- 437,325 troops
- 3,635 artillery pieces
- 3,052 tanks
- 421 armored vehicles
- 21,919 cars
Territorial issues
Territorial issues also clouded Estonian-Russian relations. Estonia had hoped for the return of more than 2,000 square kilometers of territory annexed to Russia by Stalin in 1945. The annexed land had been within the borders Estonia approved by Russia in the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty. However, the Yeltsin government disavowed any responsibility for acts committed by the Soviet regime.Estonian and Russian negotiators reached a technical border agreement in December 1996, with the border remaining substantially the same as the one drawn by Stalin, with some minor adjustments. The border treaty was initialed in 1999. On 18 May 2005 Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet
Urmas Paet
Urmas Paet is an Estonian politician who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia since 2005. He is a member of the Estonian Reform Party. As of September 2010, Paet has been the longest serving minister since the re-establishment of Estonian independence.-Biography:Paet was born in Tallinn...
and his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov signed in Moscow the “Treaty between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Russian Federation on the Estonian-Russian border” and the “Treaty between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Russian Federation on the Delimitation of the Maritime Zones in the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Narva”. The Riigikogu
Riigikogu
The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. All important state-related questions pass through the Riigikogu...
(Estonian Parliament) ratified the treaties on 20 June 2005, with a reference to the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty in the preamble of the ratification law, placing the new border treaty in context of internal Estonian law as amending the original 1920 border. The President of Estonia Arnold Rüütel
Arnold Rüütel
Arnold Rüütel OIH was the third President of the Republic of Estonia from October 8, 2001 to October 9, 2006. He was the second President since Estonia regained its independence in 1991....
proclaimed the treaties on 22 June 2005. As proposed by the Russian Government on 13 August 2005, on 31 August 2005 Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
gave a written order to the Russian Foreign Ministry to notify the Estonian side of “Russia’s intention not to participate in the border treaties between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Estonia”. On 6 September 2005 the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation sent to Estonia a note, in which Russia informed that it did not intend to become a party to the border treaties between Estonia and Russia and did not consider itself bound by the circumstances concerning the object and the purposes of the treaties.
- This section contains material from the Library of Congress Country StudiesLibrary of Congress Country StudiesThe Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress , freely available for use by researchers. No copyright is claimed on them; therefore, they have been dedicated to the public domain and can be copied freely. Note that not all the pictures used...
, which are United States government publications in the public domainPublic domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.
Language and citizenship issues
During the Soviet period the share of RussophoneRussophone
A Russophone is literally a speaker of the Russian language either natively or by preference. At the same time the term is used in a more specialized meaning to describe the category of people whose cultural background is associated with Russian language regardless of ethnic and territorial...
s in Estonia increased from less than a tenth to over a third, and to almost half in the capital Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, and even to a majority in some districts in North East Estonia. (See Demographics of Estonia
Demographics of Estonia
The demographics of Estonia in the twenty-first century are the result of historical trends over more than a thousand years, just as for most European countries, but have been disproportionately affected by events in the last half of the twentieth century...
and Estonian SSR: Demographic changes.) In contrast to the long-standing pre-World War II Russian minority in Estonia, these were Soviet economic migrants. Russian was an official language in parallel to, and in practice often instead of, Estonian in Estonian SSR and there were no integration efforts during the Soviet time, resulting in considerable groups of people knowing very little or no Estonian.
After Estonia re-established independence, Estonian again became the only official language
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
.
The mass deportations of ethnic Estonians during the Soviet era together with migration into Estonia from other parts of the Soviet Union resulted in the share of ethnic Estonians in the country decreasing from 88% in 1934 to 62% in 1989. (See Demographics of Estonia
Demographics of Estonia
The demographics of Estonia in the twenty-first century are the result of historical trends over more than a thousand years, just as for most European countries, but have been disproportionately affected by events in the last half of the twentieth century...
.)
In 1992, the Citizenship Act of the Republic of Estonia was reinstated according to the pre-Soviet invasion status quo in 1940. Throughout the years of occupations (the major democracies of the world never accepted the forcible incorporation of the Baltic States
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
by the USSR in 1940), the pre-Soviet invasion Estonian citizens and their descendants never lost their citizenship, regardless of their ethnic origin, be it Estonian, Russian (8.2% of the citizenry by the 1934 census), German or any other, according to the jus sanguinis
Jus sanguinis
Ius sanguinis is a social policy by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having a parent who are citizens of the nation...
principle. Conditions for acquiring and receiving Estonian citizenship for post-1940 settlers and their descendants in Estonia are an examination in knowledge of the Estonian language
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
and an examination in knowledge of the Constitution of Estonia
Constitution of Estonia
The Constitution of Estonia is the fundamental law of the Republic of Estonia and establishes the state order as that of a democratic republic where the supreme power is vested in its citizens. It was adopted in a freely elected Estonian Constituent Assembly on 15 June 1920 and came into force on...
and the Law. Applicants for Estonian citizenship who were born prior to 1 January 1930, or hearing or speech disabled, permanently disabled, et cetera, are exempt from the requirements.
Currently about a third of Estonia's Russophone
Russophone
A Russophone is literally a speaker of the Russian language either natively or by preference. At the same time the term is used in a more specialized meaning to describe the category of people whose cultural background is associated with Russian language regardless of ethnic and territorial...
s are Estonian citizens, another third have Russian citizenship. At the same time in 2006 around 9% of Estonia's residents were of undefined citizenship. While there have been calls for the return of all Estonia's Russians to Russia, the Government of Estonia has been adopting an integration policy, advocating an idea that Estonia's residents should possess at least a basic knowledge of the Estonian language
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
.
People who arrived in the country after 1940 qualify for naturalization if they have general knowledge of Estonian language and the Constitution, have legally resided in Estonia for at least eight years, the last five of them permanently, have a registered place of residence in Estonia and a permanent legal income. Russia has repeatedly condemned Estonian citizenship laws and demanded that Estonia grant its citizenship without (or by a greatly simplified) naturalization procedure. The perceived difficulty of the language tests necessary for naturalisation has been one of the controversial issues.
In February 2002, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeni Gussarov presented to Estonian ambassador Karin Jaani a non-paper list of seven demands to be fulfilled by Estonia in order to improve the relations of the two countries. These demands included making Russian an official language in the regions where the russophone minority was actually a majority, granting citizenship by naturalization to at least 20,000 residents annually, stopping prosecuting the persons who had been involved in the deportation of Estonians, official registering the Russian Orthodox Church, providing secondary and higher education in Russian language.
Accusations of fascism
There have been various allegations of fascism (i.e., NazismNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in Soviet speech
Newspeak
Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel, it refers to the deliberately impoverished language promoted by the state. Orwell included an essay about it in the form of an appendix in which the basic principles of the language are explained...
), glorification of Nazism and Estonia's collaboration with Germans in World War II, resurrection of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and being pro-Nazi against Estonia by official spokesmen and Jewish religious leaders of Russia, as well as by international spokesmen and associations, including René van der Linden
René van der Linden
Pierre René Hubert Marie van der Linden is a Member of the Senate of the Netherlands. He was President of the Dutch Senate from 2009 to 2011, and President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2005 to 2008....
and Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff is an Israeli historian of American origin, who has played a role in bringing Nazis indicted for war crimes to trial...
.
According to Economist: What really annoys the Kremlin is that Estonians regarded the arrival of the Red Army in 1944–45 as the exchange of one ghastly occupation for another instead of a liberation. The Estonian Education Minister Tõnis Lukas has said "We do not glorify the Nazis in any way, but Moscow seems very upset that Estonia considers the Nazi era and Stalinism as equally evil and criminal regimes."
A controversial monument
Monument of Lihula
Monument of Lihula is the colloquial name of a monument commemorating the Estonians who fought for Estonia against the Soviet Union in World War II, located in Lagedi near Tallinn, the capital of Estonia....
had been erected by a private group in the seaside town of Pärnu
Pärnu
Pärnu is a city in southwestern Estonia on the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is a popular summer vacation resort with many hotels, restaurants, and large beaches. The Pärnu River flows through the city and drains into the Gulf of Riga...
in 2002. It honoured Estonian soldiers who fought the Red Army during World War II and was reported as "SS monument" by some news agencies, including BBC. The Monument hadn't been formally unveiled and had been taken down shortly afterward amid criticisms of the international community. In 2004 the same monument
Monument of Lihula
Monument of Lihula is the colloquial name of a monument commemorating the Estonians who fought for Estonia against the Soviet Union in World War II, located in Lagedi near Tallinn, the capital of Estonia....
was re-erected in the town of Lihula
Lihula
Lihula is a town in Estonia with population of 1,614 . It is a centre of a rural municipality in Lääne County.The castle of Leal was first mentioned in 1211. It was the centre of Diocese Saare-Lääne...
, however it was removed by the Estonian government after 9 days amid violent protests from some monument supporters. The monument depicts an Estonian soldier in a German-type military uniform, and according to a journalist of the Baltic Times, with a Waffen-SS (combat SS) unit emblem. However a semiotic analysis by professor Peeter Torop
Peeter Torop
Peeter Torop is an Estonian semiotician. Following Roman Jakobson, he expanded the scope of the semiotic study of translation to include intratextual, intertextual, and extratextual translation and stressing the productivity of the notion of translation in general semiotics...
of University of Tartu
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. University of Tartu is the national university of Estonia; it is the biggest and highest-ranked university in Estonia...
, consulting for the Lihula police department, concluded that no Nazi or SS symbolics whatsoever appear in the bas-relief.
There are legitimate organizations representing Waffen SS veterans in Estonia, and former Waffen SS soldiers are paid pensions by the German government. While the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
condemned the Waffen-SS as part of a criminal organisation, conscripts were exempted from that judgment due to being involuntarily mobilized. Conscripting natives of occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva Convention. The 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) is an example of such a conscript formation, the units cannot be accused of committing crimes against humanity.
According to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
: "Many Russians have accused countries once under the Kremlin’s sway, including Estonia, of not pursuing a full account of some of their citizens’ collaborations with the Nazis." Martin Arpo, superintendent of Security Police Board disagrees with this Russian view, saying "Both regimes were criminal and committed criminal acts and brought suffering to the Estonian people. But the local K.G.B.
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
couldn’t find any more evidence against the Nazi collaborators. We haven’t found it either. And the K.G.B. was a much larger organization than we are and had powers and methods, shall we say, that are not available to a Western democratic country."
Human rights concerns
The Government of RussiaGovernment of Russia
The Government of the Russian Federation exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister , the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers...
, claimed (in 2005) that "there is discrimination against the Russian-speaking minority (not only ethnic Russians but also Russian-speaking Jews)." The Federal Migration Service of Russia has supported a law that would set a language test for anyone planning to work in Russia for more than one year. "It is obvious that without knowledge of the Russian language it is impossible to integrate into Russian society," the Russian Migration Service has said. The Russian law applies to new immigrants. The law of citizenship of Republic of Estonia denied in 1991 automatic citizenship of the country to all Soviet immigrants who had moved into Estonian SSR, when the territory of Estonia was under Soviet jurisdiction in 1940–1941 and 1944–1991, as well as to their descendants born before 1992. Non-citizen parents can request expedited citizenship for their children born after 1992 if they have been residents of Estonia for five years. Continuity of citizenship applied automatically to Russophones who were citizens or descendants of citizens of Republic of Estonia prior 1940.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections...
(OSCE) 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, the European Centre for Minority Issues
European Centre for Minority Issues
The European Centre for Minority Issues is a research institute based in Flensburg, Germany, that conducts research into minority-majority relations in Europe. ECMI is a non-partisan and interdisciplinary institution...
has also criticised what is sees as Estonia's harsh treatment of its Russian population, and has condemned the ostensible lack of legal protection offered to minorities. The forum Development and Transition, which is sponsored by the United Nations, published an article in its newsletter on November 2005 where Professor James Hughes argues that Latvia and Estonia employ a "sophisticated and extensive policy regime of discrimination" against their respective Russophone
Russophone
A Russophone is literally a speaker of the Russian language either natively or by preference. At the same time the term is used in a more specialized meaning to describe the category of people whose cultural background is associated with Russian language regardless of ethnic and territorial...
parts of the population. . However in that same newsletter Professor Hughes arguments were opposed by former Latvian minister for social integration Dr. Nils Muiznieks who argued his views were simplistic and "similar to what Russian propaganda has been touting in international fora over the last 10 years".
Although the OSCE and other international organizations, such as the Finnish Helsinki Committee, have found the Citizenship Law to be satisfactory, the Russian Government and members of the local ethnic Russian community continued to criticize it as discriminatory, notably for its Estonian language requirements. In September 2003, a visiting NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation concluded that the country had no major problems in treatment of its Russian minority.
Dr. Kara Brown has claimed in her 1997 report at Indiana University newsletter that "the Russian government, disregarding the fact that Estonia's Russian speakers willingly have chosen to stay [in Estonia], has used the excuse of alleged minority-right infringements as justification for a possible armed invasion. She suggested that, once in Estonia, these Russian troops would 'secure' the rights of these Russian-speakers who live outside of their homeland. According to K. Brown this vow of 'support' only aggravates attempts being made by the Russian speakers to solve their political problems independently and jeopardizes the development of healthy foreign relations between Estonia and Russia. However, this "Russian Plan for Invasion of the Baltic States," (as published in The Baltic Independent in 1995), had never been implemented, nor it's authenticity had been confirmed by the independent sources. Estonian media have repeatedly claimed that Russian politicians called for military action against Estonia to protect the "compatriots", most recently this accusation had been fielded against Dmitry Rogozin
Dmitry Rogozin
Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin is a well-known Russian diplomat and popular politician, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia. In January, 2008, he became Russia's ambassador to NATO. He was a leader of the Rodina party until it merged with other similar Russian parties to form the...
during the Bronze Soldier crisis.
In 2005, the Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts
Juhan Parts
Juhan Parts is an Estonian politician who was Prime Minister of Estonia from 2003 to 2005. He was chairman of the Res Publica Party for a time. Since 5 April 2007 he is the Minister of Economy and Communication in Andrus Ansip's second government...
expressed concerns about alleged Russian violations of human and cultural rights of the Mari people, who are ethnically related to the Estonian people. Estonian Institute for Human Rights claims Russia persecutes Mari journalists and oppositions leaders. Several journalists have been killed while in the cultural sphere TV and radio programmes in Mari language in the autonomous Republic of Mari El
Mari El
The Mari El Republic is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Yoshkar-Ola. Population: -Geography:The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia, along the Volga River. The swampy Mari Depression is located in the west of the republic...
are restricted to a minimum of a brief news segment on the TV and Mari language radio broadcasting has been severely curtailed as well. The EU subsequently passed a resolution strongly condemning the violations of human rights by the Russian authorities in Mari El.
Orthodox Church controversy
A legal dispute went on between the Tallinn and Moscow governments since 1993, when the Estonian government re-registered the Estonian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical (Constantinpole) PatriarchateEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
. This made it impossible to register the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate
Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate
The Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate is a semi-autonomous diocese of the Patriarchate of Moscow whose primate is appointed by the Holy Synod of the latter. Its official name in English is the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate...
, which had collaborated with the Soviet occupation. The main issue was, which of the two owned the property of the Orthodox church in Estonia, held by the Moscow Patriarchate until 1923, then by the Church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate until the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, and consequently handed to the Moscow Patriarchate by the Soviet government. Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was registered in Estonia in April 2002.
Russia's attitude to Estonian accession to the NATO and the EU
When the Baltic states restored their independence in 1991 they demanded withdrawal of the Russian troops from their territory, where USSR has built various military installations. Later in the 1990s the Baltic states refused Russia's proposals of security guaranties in favor of NATO alliance. NATO, particularly its expansion is considered a threat in Russia.Bronze Soldier of Tallinn controversy
The relocation of the Bronze Soldier of TallinnBronze Soldier of Tallinn
The Bronze Soldier is the informal name of a controversial Soviet World War II war memorial in Tallinn, Estonia, built at the site of several war graves, which were relocated to the nearby Tallinn Military Cemetery in 2007...
and exhumation of the bodies buried from a square in the center of Tallinn to a military cemetery in April 2007 provoked a harsh Russian reaction. The Federation Council
Federation Council of Russia
Federation Council of Russia ) is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , according to the 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation...
, on 27 April, approved a statement concerning the monument, which urges the Russian authorities to take the "toughest possible measures" against Estonia. First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov said that adequate measures, primarily, economic ones, should be taken against Estonia. Belittling the World War II heroes' feats and desecrating monuments erected in their memory leads to discord and mistrust between countries and peoples, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Victory Day 2007. In the days following the relocation, the Embassy of Estonia in Moscow
Embassy of Estonia in Moscow
The Embassy of Estonia in Moscow is the chief diplomatic mission of Estonia in the Russian Federation. It is located at 5 Maly Kislovsky Lane in the Presnensky District of Moscow.-External links:...
was besieged by protesters, including pro-Kremlin youth organisations Nashi
Nashi (Ours)
Nashi is Vladimir Putin's political youth movement in Russia, which declares itself to be a democratic, anti-fascist, anti-'oligarchic-capitalist' movement. Its creation was encouraged by senior figures in the Russian Presidential administration, and by late 2007, it grew in size to some 120,000...
and the Young Guard of United Russia. Estonia's president Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Toomas Hendrik Ilves is the fourth and current President of Estonia. He is a former diplomat and journalist, was the leader of the Social Democratic Party in the 1990s and later a member of the European Parliament...
expressed his astonishment that Russia has — despite the promises of foreign minister Lavrov — not taken actions to protect the diplomatic personnel. On 2 May, a small group of protesters attempted to disrupt a press conference the Estonian ambassador to Russia, Marina Kaljurand
Marina Kaljurand
Marina Kaljurand is an Estonian diplomat ....
was holding at the offices of the Moscow newspaper, Argumenty i Fakty
Argumenty i fakty
Argumenty i Fakty is a weekly newspaper based in Moscow and a publishing house in Russia and worldwide. As of 2008, it is owned by Promsvyazbank and the newspaper is edited by Nikolay Zyatkov.- History :...
, but were held back by security guards. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the Ambassador confirmed to them that her bodyguard used pepper spray
Pepper spray
Pepper spray, also known as OC spray , OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears...
against the protesters. Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet
Urmas Paet
Urmas Paet is an Estonian politician who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia since 2005. He is a member of the Estonian Reform Party. As of September 2010, Paet has been the longest serving minister since the re-establishment of Estonian independence.-Biography:Paet was born in Tallinn...
suggested to consider calling off the upcoming EU-Russia Summit that was due to take place on 18 May).
Railway works
On 3 May 2007, Russia announced plans for repairs to railway lines to Estonia, disrupting oil and coal exports to Estonian ports. In July Russian Minister of Transport Igor Levitin announced that Russia was planning to stop all oil transit through Estonian ports and use Russian ports instead.Cyberattacks on Estonia
A series of distributed denial of service cyber attacks began on 27 April 2007 that swamped websites of Estonian organizations, including Estonian parliamentRiigikogu
The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. All important state-related questions pass through the Riigikogu...
, banks, ministries, newspapers and broadcasters, amid the Estonian-Russian row about the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn
Bronze Soldier of Tallinn
The Bronze Soldier is the informal name of a controversial Soviet World War II war memorial in Tallinn, Estonia, built at the site of several war graves, which were relocated to the nearby Tallinn Military Cemetery in 2007...
relocation. Estonian officials accused Russia of unleashing cyberwar.
Exhibition dedicated to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
An exhibition dedicated to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army opened in Tallinn in October 2009 was heavily criticised by Russian embassy in Estonia. "The UPA acted like war criminals and not as fighters for freedom as they are being portrayed in retrospect. We spoke of our negative view on the exhibition opened by the Estonian Foreign Ministry and voiced our reasons", Russian Embassy Press Attache Maria Shustitskaya told Estonian television.Meetings
Russian President Dmitry MedvedevDmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Toomas Hendrik Ilves is the fourth and current President of Estonia. He is a former diplomat and journalist, was the leader of the Social Democratic Party in the 1990s and later a member of the European Parliament...
met in Khanty-Mansiysk
Khanty-Mansiysk
Khanty-Mansiysk experiences a subarctic climate . The climate is extreme, with temperatures as low as -49 C° and as high as 34.5 C°. On average, however, the region is very cold, with an average tempurature of -1.1 C°...
in June 2008 at the 5th World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples, marking the first meeting between leaders of the two states in fourteen years. On the meeting between the two presidents, Sergey Prikhodko, Aide to the Russian President, stated that "(t)here have been much warmer meetings. During the meeting, Ilves stated that rhetoric from both countries should be toned down, with Medvedev responding by saying that the Estonian President often made harsh statements against Russia, whereas he did not do the same about Estonia. In his speech at the Congress, Ilves states “Freedom and democracy were our choice 150 years ago. Even poets didn’t dream about state independence at that time. Many Finno-Ugric peoples haven’t made their choice yet.” This led Russian representatives to believe that Ilves was calling for the breakup of the Russian state. Konstantin Kosachev, the Chairman of the International Affairs Committee in the State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
, in response stated that Estonia and the European Parliament had demanded investigations into the 2005 attacks on a Mari activist, and had used the attack as evidence of discrimination of the Mari people in Russia, yet ignored calls for investigations on attacks on ethnic Russians, which included the murder of one, in the wake of the Bronze Soldier
Bronze Soldier of Tallinn
The Bronze Soldier is the informal name of a controversial Soviet World War II war memorial in Tallinn, Estonia, built at the site of several war graves, which were relocated to the nearby Tallinn Military Cemetery in 2007...
controversy. Kosachev's speech led Ilves and the rest of the Estonian delegation to leave the conference hall in protest. Ilves later stated that "to read into the speech anything requires a hyperactive and distorted imagination".
Public opinion
According to Levada CenterLevada Center
Levada Center is a Russian independent, non-governmental polling and sociological research organisation. It is named after its founder, the first Russian professor of sociology Yuri Levada . Levada Center traces back its history to 1987 when VCIOM was founded, originally headed by Academician...
data, in 2007, Estonia was considered an enemy of Russia by 60 percent of Russia's citizens (cf. 28% in 2006, 32% in 2005), more than any other country in the world, followed by Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, Latvia and United States. The poll was conducted two weeks after the Bronze Soldier relocation to a military cemetery and exhumation of the bodies buried there.
See also
- History of Russians in EstoniaHistory of Russians in EstoniaThe population of Russians in Estonia is estimated at 345,000. Most Russians live in Estonia's capital city Tallinn and the major northeastern cities of Narva and Kohtla-Järve...
- Foreign relations of EstoniaForeign relations of EstoniaFollowing restoration of independence from the Soviet Union, Russia was one of the first nations to recognise Estonia's independence . Estonia's immediate priority after regaining its independence was the withdrawal of Russian forces from Estonian territory. In August 1994, this was completed...
- Russian influence operations in EstoniaRussian influence operations in EstoniaAccording to the Estonian Security Police, Russian influence operations in Estonia form a complex system of financial, political, economic and espionage activities in Republic of Estonia for the purposes of influencing Estonia's political and economic decisions in ways considered favourable to...
External links
Documents on the Estonia–Russia relationship from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Embassy of Russia in Tallinn Embassy of Estonia in MoscowFurther reading
- 31 August 2004, the 10th Anniversary of the Withdrawal of Russian Troops from Estonia. Estonia Today, Fact Sheet of the Estonian Foreign Ministry. August 2004.
- Aalto, Pami (2003). Revisiting the Security/Identity Puzzle in Russo-Estonian Relations. Journal of Peace ResearchJournal of Peace ResearchThe Journal of Peace Research is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes scholarly articles and book reviews in the fields of peace studies, conflict resolution, and international security. Its scope is similar to that of the Journal of Conflict Resolution. Founded by Johan Galtung in 1964,...
40.5, 573–591. - Ehin, Piret & Andres KasekampAndres KasekampAndres Ilmar Kasekamp is the director of Estonian Foreign Policy Institute and Professor of Baltic Politics at the University of Tartu, Estonia ....
(2005). Estonian-Russian Relations in the Context of EU Enlargement. In Kathryn Pinnick & Oksana Antoneko, eds., Russia and the European Union. Volume 1, Part 3, pages 211–224. - Feldmann, Magnus & Razeen Sally (2002) . From the Soviet Union to the European Union: Estonian Trade Policy, 1991–2000. The World Economy 25 (1), 79–106.
- Kauppila, Laura Eleonoora. The Baltic Puzzle: Russia’s Policy towards Estonia and Latvia, 1992 – 1997. Pro Gradu Thesis, University of Helsinki, 1999.
- Kramer, Mark (2002). NATO, the Baltic states and Russia:a framework for sustainable enlargement. International AffairsInternational Affairs (journal)International Affairs is Britain's leading peer-reviewed academic journal of international relations founded by Chatham House in 1924. It is published bi-monthly by Wiley-Blackwell . Currently its editor-in-chief is Caroline Soper...
78 (4), 731–756. - Park, Andrus (1995). Russia and Estonian Security Dilemmas. Europe-Asia StudiesEurope-Asia StudiesEurope-Asia Studies is an academic peer-reviewed journal published 10 times a year by Routledge on behalf of the Institute of Central and East European Studies, University of Glasgow, and continuing the journal Soviet Studies , which was renamed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union...
47.1, 27–45. - Rutenberg, Gregory (1935). The Baltic States and the Soviet Union. The American Journal of International Law 29.4, 598–615.
- Vakar, Nicholai P. (1943). Russia and the Baltic States. Russian Review 3.1, 45–54.
- Vares, Peeter and Olga Zhurayi (1998). Estonia and Russia, Estonians and Russians: A Dialogue. 2nd ed. Tallinn: Olof Palme International Center.
- Vitkus, Gediminas. Changing Security Regime in the Baltic Sea Region. Final report. Vilnius, 2002.
- THE BALTIC PUZZLE – Russia’s Policy towards Estonia and Latvia 1992 – 1997
- Heed a Russian 'Cry of Despair' in Estonia – Andrei Kozyrev in the International Herald TribuneInternational Herald TribuneThe International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
- Letter dated 9 April 1996 from the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General