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How citizenship rules made in Estonia affected people belonging to Russian minority?

Answer» In January 2017, the United States deployed Special Forces to Estonia as part of an ongoing presence of U.S. and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops aimed at ensuring security in the Baltic region. Following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, separatist conflicts in eastern Ukraine, an increase in Russian military activities in the Baltic Sea region, and ongoing allegations of Russian meddling in elections in Europe and the United States, tensions between Russia and its neighbors have attracted growing international attention. In recent years, the United States has increased its investment and interest in Estonia, working to shield the tiny country and its 1.3 million residents from potential Russian incursions.Estonia’s emergence as a key player in this context is unique and multidimensional, in part due to its large Russian-speaking population and citizenship policy. The first of the former Soviet republics to enter membership talks with the European Union, Estonia has been an EU and NATO member since 2004. Following independence in 1991, Estonia sought to restore the country to its pre-Soviet identity by reverting to its earlier citizenship policy, viewing the Soviet era as a period of illegal occupation. This policy rollback had a significant effect on Russian speakers, a multiethnic linguistic community that comprises 30 percent of the country’s population and is chiefly made up of Soviet-era migrants and their descendants. Russian speakers are often defined as muulased (non-Estonians, aliens, or foreigners), a term also used in a derogatory sense by some Estonians. Most were not entitled to Estonian citizenship following independence, and while the majority has acquired some form of legal residency, a number remain stateless (officially classified as having undetermined or undefined citizenship by the Estonian state and census), causing divisions within the country and with its much larger neighbor.While Estonia earns praise and criticism alike for its citizenship policy at home, militarization and tensions continue to wax and wane between the United States, Estonia, NATO, and Russia. In light of recent geopolitical developments, scholars, policy experts, and journalists are increasing their interest in and coverage of Estonia, often with a keen emphasis on Estonia’s citizenship policy and Russian-speaking population. Building upon recent research, including mixed-methods fieldwork by the author, this article examines Estonia’s citizenship policy, its impacts on Russian-speaking residents, and implications for ongoing regional events.


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