* 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 ......
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