It was bound to happen, sooner or later, in view of the constant barrage of misguided “criticism” of Estonia and Latvia coming from Moscow, who keeps suggesting that Russian speaking minorities are being discriminated against in the Baltics. Estonian Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland finally decided that enough is enough, and struck back at Moscow two weeks ago. This after the prolonged manipulation of a recent event, when Estonia’s Foreign Ministry denied a number of Chechen teenagers visas to attend a language camp in Estonia. Russian newspapers leapt on this as yet another case of how Estonia discriminates against Russians (while noting nothing about how ethnic Chechens are subject to terror from Russians), calling this a humiliation of children. Moscow’s Pervyi Kanal TV station went as far as calling the denial of visas a violation of human rights.
Ojuland addressed a press conference on July 15th, labeling the new campaign as “demagoguery”. She stated that the recent wave of claims that human rights of ethnic Russians are being violated reminded her of an equally tense time — the situation in the early 1990s when Moscow did its utmost to oppose the restoration of Baltic independence, using every available opportunity in the international media to claim that Russians were being denied basic human rights. Ojuland noted that this recent campaign is a reaction to Baltic accession to NATO and the European Union.
The Baltic Times noted in their coverage of the press conference that Ojuland believes that Russian pressure is being exerted even though EU officials see Estonia’s minority policy in line with the Copenhagen criteria that governs these issues, and that there is no reason for the EU to succumb to this pressure which is aimed at returning international monitoring to Estonia. The EU long ago concluded that there is no minority rights problem in the Baltics.
Moscow volleyed back Ojuland’s blistering serve with a statement of their own on July 19th. The Russian Foreign Ministry claims that far from trying to “discredit Estonia, as Ms. Ojuland claims, Russia is trying to help this country solve a number of known problems that obstruct its further democratic development and pose a threat of complicating its real integration into a single Europe without borderlines or double standards.”
Well, Moscow certainly knows about double standards, as seen in its media onslaught, or rather circus concerning the denying of visas to the Chechen youngsters. Never mind that the visa applications submitted to the Estonian Embassy in Moscow contained numerous errors and that some of the applicants were too old to attend the language camp in Estonia. As Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the Riigikogu Foreign Affairs committee noted, the incident showed how Russia is taking advantage of even the smallest of incidents to maintain its propaganda war against Latvia and Estonia. Mihkelson noted that for an entire week Russia issued daily statements on the issue — including an “absurdity of the Russian Foreign Ministry issuing a press release saying Russian linguists recommended that ‘Tallinn’ be written with one ‘n’”.
The Russian propaganda machine is in full gear, but Mihkelson wondered what the campaign hopes to achieve. He suggested that slow news days during summer contributed to keeping the issue in the media, as it would have gone unnoticed in most other situations. Incidentally, Estonia has a parliamentary group, “For the Protection of Human Rights in Chechnya”, and their chairman Andrus Herkel also saw the case as a propaganda, not a human rights issue.
It has been bordering on the absurd that a former world superpower unable to adopt, much less enforce, democratic practice within its own boundaries resorts to such picayune allegations, mud-flinging — all to hide what happens in places like Chechnya and Ingushetia. Fortunately, there are some within the Russian polity who see things as they are, without exaggeration.
Boris Kagarlitsky is one such Russian. The director of the Institute of Globalization Studies wrote an interesting opinion piece on ethnic Baltic Russians, published last week, July 22 in The Moscow Times (foreign-owned and often courageous in their editorial criticism of the Putin administration). Kagarlitsky’s article, “A Common Baltic Future” is a reasoned look at the hopes and goals of both Baltic nationalists and the ethnic Russian minority in those countries. Dismissing elected Latvian-Russian nationalist Tatyana Zhdanok, who has already organized circus-like stunts with Russian speaking schoolchildren as merely an exotic addition to an already colourful Europarliament, Kagarlitsky points out the obvious. Ethnic Russians in the Baltic States recognize full well that they are better off than their compatriots in the “historical homeland” are. This not merely because of a higher standard of living, for even noncitizens in Latvia and Estonia have more control over their lives than full-fledged Russian citizens. Kagarlitsky argues that Moscow does not have much use for Baltic Russians either, save as necessary propaganda tools. In truth their countries’ relations with Russia do not affect the status of the Russian language and its speakers in the Baltics. Indeed, there is no “Russian problem” in the EU — Latvia and Estonia would not have been admitted into the union if their laws had not been in line with EU norms. Thus agreeing with Ojuland — the Copenhagen criteria already rules.
The key is in getting Russians in the Baltic states to embrace democracy — their future depends on how successful they are in forging alliances with Baltic national groups. Democracy will not function until all members of society enjoy civil rights in equal measure. This is the case for citizens of all Baltic countries, regardless of their mother tongue. It is citizenship, not ethnicity, that is the cornerstone of democracy.
Demagoguery, however seems to be the foundation of Russia’s foreign policy misadventures of late. Discrimination and humiliation are but two words used by demagogues; appealing to prejudices and passions has long been Russian political strategy. Ojuland is bang-on in identifying this strategy — Moscow’s unprincipled political agitation has become wearingly tiresome. But what else can we expect from a country that has no respect for human rights but knows all about propaganda as a political tool?
Leader: Demagoguery, indeed (1)
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That Ojuland "struck" back is a little of an overstatement.....Ahto Lobjakas has a far better suggestion in today's issue of E Päevaheht. Unfortunately though, Estonia has very little political experience, and precious little idea of how to protect herself in the face of blatant intrinsic lies spouted from the mouth of that aggressive animal, Russia. It's interesting to note that Siim Kallas has already dramatically changed his political point of view concerning Russia; he no longer sees her as a threat....and taxes must also be brought into line with EU regulations. So much for representing Estonian interests! Let's see what magic tricks Toomas Hendrik Ilves can perform...just maybe he is able to put the case for Estonia a little better than any of our other representatives currently residing in Brussels.
Arvamus
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