Russkiy Yazyk, Eesti Keel: Speaking Russian in Estonia

View of the Russian border. All images belong to author.

‘Why do you assume that every Estonian speaks Russian?’ The barmaid of Tallinn’s medieval-style ‘Karen’s Diner’ snaps. My friends and I stand quietly, searching her face to uncover whether she was joking, and subtly Google-translating the Eesti keel (Estonian) for ‘dark beer’. In the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine, the speaking of Russian in former Soviet countries has become increasingly taboo, but Russian still seems to be used as a lingua franca in several former Soviet countries. Connections may have disappeared between Russia and the Baltics, but the uncomfortable topic of the Russian language remains.

Estonia’s struggle with the Russian language can mostly be attributed to its demography. Almost a quarter of the small nation’s population is ethnically Russian, and in the areas towards the Russian border in the East, 90% of people communicate in Russian. In the context of the invasion of Ukraine, this has become an increasing concern for Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. If Putin claims that the movement of troops into the Donbass region was to protect the rights of Russian-speaking Ukrainians, then the significant proportion of Russian-speaking Estonians could certainly call into question Estonia’s national security.

The ways that Estonia has sought to protect itself are controversial. Those living in the country during the fall of the USSR were not automatically made full citizens; citizenship was granted exclusively to citizens of Estonia before the Soviet Union and their descendants. Exclusionary measures are also applied to the workforce and education. Higher education, for example, is conducted exclusively in Estonian, causing a disparity between Estonian and Russian-speaking young people. Further to this,there are Estonian-language requirements for employment in both the public and private sectors, resulting in unemployment for some Russian-speakers. Prime Minister Kallas provides a seemingly simple suggestion for citizenship and integration: “just one thing we ask- learn our language”, but for many Russian-speaking Estonians, learning the national language isn’t so simple. In the mostly Russian-speaking regions of the east, everyday life is conducted mostly in Russian, and the Estonian language serves primarily as a bureaucratic tool, a means of acquiring citizenship. It follows, then, that many Russian-speaking Estonians appear to be simply unwilling to spend time and money learning the Estonian language, even if the costs are reimbursed after successfully completing an A2 (beginners) language exam.

None of this is to say that efforts to integrate the Russian-speaking population have been entirely unsuccessful. These efforts have, in fact, proven commendable, and have ultimately strengthened the unity of Estonian society. By 2011, 21% of the Russian-speaking community had successfully been integrated into the Estonian way of life, a testimony to a certain success. However, according to Marju Lauristin, a professor at the University of Tartu, just over 50% remain ‘unintegrated or little integrated’, despite efforts to encourage gaining citizenship and learning the Estonian language. Another Baltic state, however, has been considerably more successful in integrating its Russian speakers: Lithuania. Unlike Estonia, Lithuania’s more liberal citizenship laws allowed ethnic Russians an easier path to integration. It seems that this has encouraged a stronger sense of unity and community, as demonstrated by the fact that a much higher percentage of Lithuanian Russian-speakers feel an attachment to unity than Russian-speakers in Estonia. Although perhaps too little too late, a simplified citizenship process could help create a more unified Estonia.

Walking through Tallinn’s cobbled central streets and out to its brutalist residential districts, the division between the Russian-speaking and Estonian-speaking communities is evident. Amongst the Soviet-style high-rises of Lasnamäe, my ears pricked up at words and phrases I had so assiduously studied in my first year of Russian, whilst in the upmarket Balti Jaam area near Tallinn’s major train station, young families could be heard exclusively using the national language. Even in the heart of the city, there is an Estonian theatre, and there is a Russian one. There is a distinct Russian cultural institute. Despite Russia’s war in Ukraine and Kallas’ policy of Estonian-only education, it seems that the Russian language and its institutions are not going anywhere.

“We have a different history, but a common future”, Prime Minister Kallas states optimistically. Perhaps this is true. Since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the amount of Russian-speaking Estonians or former citizens of the Russian Federation gaining Estonian citizenship has increased three-fold compared to before 2021. However, as long as social exclusion continues and Estonian language classes are not free and accessible, it seems unlikely that Eesti Keel will be universally spoken anytime soon.