* Things necessary to know about Estonian Russian-speaking minority. All sources used are Estonian or Western.
1. In Estonia all established foreigners vote in the local elections. The Russian ethnic parties suffered utter defeat in the local elections of 1998 and it got worse in the last ones. Currently Russian ethnic party holds power in only two minor cities in Estonia - Maardu and in another one, cannot remeber at the moment. The party has closed recently and reopened under new name, analists pronounce it dead nevertheless and this is the most powerful "Russian minority protecting" party. In the Parliamentory Elections the support for pro-Russians is naturally even smaller and they fall far from 5% quota, though they combine themself with the Toomsalu's communists.
2. 68% of the people identifying themselves as Russian-speakers support NATO membership, only 7% less than the ethnic Estonians. Same question unofficially posed by a concerned kremlinist at " estonia.livejournal.com" Russian-speaking community, couldn't even get anywhere near 32% anti-NATO locals there.
3. The Estonian Security Police Board stated in its Yearbook of 2003 (or was it 2002) that the Russian secret services (you name it) stopped working with the local Russian organizations because of lack of hope of this work and switched to infiltrating EU and NATO (connected local
officials) instead.
4. There was no single mass-protest (let's say that in Estland mass starts with 100 people in a crowd), political or any, by the local Russian-speakers since.. 1993 or even 1991 (suggestions ?). I am pretty sure starting with 1998, but certainly unlikely before that as well. With one exception - there was one significant protest few years ago, numbering around 100 people conducted by the local Russian youth, but it was anti-US and took place at the gates of the US Embassy.
5. The relevant acts of the Estonian State, notably ......
...... denials of visa entries for high-ranking Kremlin officials or "diplomats" have nothing to do with the so-called "internal enemy" (what's that ?), but are likely retaliations for denials and obstacles made to the Estonians in their entries to Russia, or are indications to the Kremlin of the Estonian position - lack of fear or respect toward that country, and, in case of "diplomats" are anti-intelligency measures. Claims that this or that particular official was denied or turned away because of its alleged "influence" on the local Russian community (sorry, what ??) is propaganda aimed to Russia and to naive listerners in the West (such as Greek communist party), because in Estonia nobody understands anymore what harm could it do. An official could instead appear in the Pervyj Baltijskij Kanal and speak out if it is so urgent to raise masses, hehe.
6. News of this or that "European Russian party", "Estonian communists", "Centre for Human Rights" are irrelevant information concerned activities of the groups numbering 10-20 persons who are professional project-workers dealing with utilizations of funds designated by different donor organisations, mostly by Mitrofanova's Russian budget-financed Compatriot Federal Centre (correct name ?) in Moscow (I'd give 95% of all activities financed from there and leave 5% to be EU-financed, but this is me, pro-Russian pinky, remember ?). Russia has no political influence over the Estonian Russians, and couldn't have, because the people aren't fools.
I hereby undertake to explain to everybody: there's no "inner Russian threat". Haven't been for years already and even Gulag-treated pro-patriotic politicians stopped frowning suspiciously at slavic-looking bypassers. It is lost. Karta bita. Time to move on.
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