With its desolate Soviet-style tenements, Narva looks gloomy, old-fashioned and Russian, also because of the packed snow left over from winter. Narva is a Russian city in the European Union. More than 95 percent of the 53 thousand inhabitants of this city in Estonia have a Russian background. The war in Ukraine is an uncomfortable topic here. The Russians in Narva feel a kinship with the motherland, but live in an EU country that is passionately anti-Russian.
“It’s very sad, this conflict. Let’s hope it will be over soon,” said Alexandr Klyuchenkov (36), a photographer who is walking along the Narva River with his daughter. “I don’t support Putin, but in Ukraine you have Nazi rhetoric on television.”
Suddenly lawyer Yuri Batloek (63) appears. “That’s a lie!” he yells, jabbing his finger at Klyuchenkov’s chest. “You’re just copying Russian television!”
Klyuchenkov: ‘I don’t even watch Russian TV!’
Batluk points to his wife Natalia, who is from Ukraine. “Her 90-year-old mother now spends her days in the bomb shelter. Before February 24 you could say: there is a conflict on which both sides are to blame. Not anymore.’
As in 2014, the question arises: where is the Russian-speaking population of Estonia? Is Narva next? Anglophone media wondered at the time. Could a Donbas scenario unfold in this city, in which Russian residents ask the motherland for help while accusing Estonians of violence or even genocide?
Protected by NATO membership
Unlike Ukraine, Estonia is protected by NATO membership. In addition, Estonia is much less important in Great Russian mysticism than Ukraine, which is considered the cradle of the Russian nation. Nevertheless, with Putin’s Soviet nostalgia, you never know.
There are no Ukrainian flags in Narva, like in the capital Tallinn. You don’t see any public statements of support for Putin either. There have been a few incidents: Ukrainian refugees have been verbally abused and schoolchildren in nearby Kothla-Järve cut a Z in their hair, the victory sign of Russian troops in Ukraine. On the other hand, 100 people demonstrated against the war at the Russian consulate in Narva. But most Russians in Narva keep quiet, like the friendly manager of the Petrovskaya bakery: ‘War is terrible, especially for ordinary people. I don’t want to say more about it.’
“The Russian-speaking population of Narva is not a homogeneous bloc,” says Anastassia Tuudar (40), head of research at the Integration Bureau, a government agency that promotes the integration of Russian speakers, including through language courses in Estonian. “There is a group of Russian Estonians who are loyal to the West. In addition, you have a group that watches Russian TV, lives in a parallel world and believes Putin. And there is a group that is in between and doesn’t quite know which party to support’, says Tuuder, himself of Russian descent. ‘There is also a gap between generations, often in a family. The young are more focused on Estonia, the older more on Russia. A lot of people don’t talk about the war to avoid conflict.’
According to a poll by the agency Kantar Emor (not only in Narva, but all over Estonia), only 29 percent of Estonians of Russian background support military aid to Ukraine, compared to 91 percent of ethnic Estonians. However, 60 percent of Russian speakers believe that Ukrainian refugees should be welcomed generously.
Narva is said to have once been one of the most beautiful towns in the Baltic region, but in 1944 the Red Army destroyed the town to chase the Nazis away. Not much remains of the old town except the restored medieval fortress overlooking the massive fortress of the Russian city of Ivangorod.
Here you stand on the edge of the European Union, mentally and geographically. Narva and Ivangorod are separated from each other by the fast-flowing River Narva, spanned by a ‘friendship bridge’. Traffic has declined drastically since the war. A family approaches from the Russian side, suitcases in hand. The man is an Italian scientist who lost his work in Russia because of the war. The border is open, but the connection between Russia and Europe is broken.
On the wrong side of history
Most of the Russian-speaking inhabitants of Narva came to Estonia after World War II, mainly to work in the mines and factories. The parents of Anastassia Tuuder of the Integration Bureau believed that the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic would offer a better future than their hometown of Norilsk, one of the dirtiest industrial towns in Siberia. But when Estonia gained its independence, the Russians suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of history, as strangers in a new country, mistrusted by the Estonians who had suffered badly under the Soviet occupation.
Initially, the Estonians hoped that the problem would solve itself by returning the Russians to the motherland. That happened little by little. The share of the Russian-speaking population in Estonia fell from 30 percent in 1989 to 24 percent today. Most have stayed: the average income in Estonia is twice as high as in Russia. The Russian-speaking population does suffer from social disadvantage. Unemployment among Russians is 9.8 percent, compared to 4.7 percent for Estonians. In the derelict industrial city of Narva, unemployment is even higher: 12.4 percent.
When Estonia became independent, citizenship was only available to Russians whose families lived in the country before the Soviet occupation of 1940. Others could only get a passport if they spoke Estonian, a difficult hurdle for many Russians. More than half of the 320 thousand Russian speakers now have an Estonian passport. In addition, 80 thousand have a Russian passport and 76 thousand are stateless, in possession of a gray passport that allows them to travel to Russia without a visa. According to a 2018 study by the think tank International Center for Defense and Security, 12 percent of Russian speakers could pose a threat from aggression by Russia.
“In 2014, the state understood that it can be a threat if many people are not loyal to Estonia,” says Anastassia Tuuder of the Integration Office. Therefore, Estonia has stepped up its efforts to integrate the Russian population. In 2015, Estonian TV opened a Russian-language channel to compete with Russian TV propaganda, which is received by satellite dishes in Narva. High-ranking politicians came to Narva to tell the Russians that they do count in Estonia. Recently, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas promised extra money for roads and schools.
“It feels very natural to be in Russia”
Meanwhile, many inhabitants of Narva still live in two worlds, the European and the Russian. ‘I come from near Vologda, north of Moscow. During the holidays we often go back to the old village of my family. It feels very natural to be in Russia,” says Aleksandr Mogutov (62), retired manager in the textile industry. ‘But my life is here. My children are strongly focused on Europe, my son is now studying in Utrecht.’
Mogutov speaks good English, learned in business. Only after his retirement did he learn Estonian, a difficult language related to Finnish. ‘I didn’t have time for it before. You don’t need Estonian in Narva, it’s a Russian city,” he says.
On the banks of the Narva River, lawyer Yuri Batluk is riled up about what he sees as the duplicity of many of his fellow townspeople: taking advantage of Estonia and the EU, dreaming of Russia. ‘Many people stay here because wages and pensions are higher, but their heads are in Russia. Why? Look how beautifully the promenade along the river has been laid out here. And what have you got there?’ He points to the muddy bank on the Russian side. “Russia has oil and gas, but the people are poor.”