Completeness complex. Estonia has become a normal European state. Almost without post-Soviet complexes. What Russia still cannot understand, arranging actions such as granting visa-free entry and exit to non-citizens - holders of “gray passports”. What lives the modern Estonian Republic - understood The New Times
Remember the rhyme from "Compromise" by Sergei Dovlatov:
At the edge of a rainy day / We met a beast, / We said to him: “Hello!” / The beast answered: “Tere!” / And now a clear beam / Appeared from behind the clouds.
For those who broke away from life in Soviet Estonia, let me remind you that "Tere!" in Estonian "Hello!" Vanya Trul, an instructor of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Estonian SSR, responded to this rhyme with a call to the editorial office of Evening Tallinn: “What is it like? Estonian is a beast? Am I an animal? Am I, an instructor of the Central Committee of the Party, a beast?”
We are walking around Tallinn in the evening with Vladimir Yushkin, former department head of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia. A native Muscovite, a graduate of Moscow Higher Technical School, he has lived in Tallinn since the 70s, supervised the local defense industry at the local Central Committee, then worked as an adviser to the first prime minister of independent Estonia, Edgar Savisaar (now the mayor of Tallinn), and now he is director of the Baltic Center for Russian Studies. He reads the websites of all the serious Russian press, watches RTVi, knows the current Russian politics and economy in a capillary way. Barred from entering Russia due to a number of statements, although he does not look like an Estonian nationalist. There is no doubt that he is a patriot of his second homeland, which became the first. He loves everything here. In particular, the ability to vote, pay utility bills and sign a tax return without leaving home, via the Internet. “The official is completely excluded from the communication of the citizen with the authorities,” says Vladimir Yushkin. “Besides, I don’t have any domestic problems at all. As, however, with most Estonians: the republic is 60% internetized – the highest rate in Europe.” In his words, one can feel one, but a strong feeling - pride in the country.
Lingua franca
It is interesting to observe the country after 17 years, which included the separation from the Soviet empire, the radical liberal reforms of the "Estonian Gaidar" Mart Laar 1 , the formation of a new statehood, accession to the European Union. A whole generation has grown up that is not required to know Russian. Many do speak fluent English. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to guess in what language one should start a conversation with a representative of any generation. However, service workers should know Russian to the same extent and to the same extent as Finnish, English, German, Swedish.
Recognition effect: “Oh, yes, this is the building of the Central Committee!” Answer: “Now it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” (speaking in English) ... The conversation in English in the bank is maintained in a distance politely. True, as it turns out later, the teller girls speak Russian to each other ... Impeccably dressed, in the image of an impoverished aristocrat, a beggar woman accurately identifies a Russian and insistently, in impeccable Russian, demands money: “You see, my account is blocked. Five crowns? Thank you. Could you give me five more? No? It's a pity...” The kiosks carry many titles of the Russian yellow press, and next to them is the main Finnish daily Helsingin sanomat, which has received an additional market in Estonia. It is impossible to determine what language of interethnic communication, lingua franca, is here. How impossible is it to describe the current state of the republic: a former province of the empire, a typical Eastern European country, a small Scandinavia?
Ersatz-abroad
Estonia, and especially its capital, was an ersatz-abroad for the Soviet people, a place of internal emigration. It seems to be a scoop, but in European scenery. Where do the graduates of the Moscow school run away in Vasily Aksenov's "Star Ticket" (1961)? Here - to the Soviet abroad. They wallow on the white sands of the Pirita beaches, swim in the scalding cold Baltic, contemplate the broken outline of the Old Town, wander through the ruins of the monastery of St. Brigid, drink alcohol for wild money in an exquisite Tallinn bar on Pikk Yalg.
For several generations, a system of signs of another life has lined up: Long Herman, Fat Margarita, Vyshgorod, Pikk Jalg, Lühike Jalg, City Hall, Viru Hotel, Finnish television at night, Georg Ots, Singing Field, second-hand bookshop on Harju Street, books of the publishing house " Eesti Raamat” with very high-quality, some kind of non-Soviet prose translated into Russian: Jaan Kross, Juhan Smuul, the Tuuliki brothers, Arvo Valton...
Here, it seemed, there was not the usual rigidity of the Soviet government. She herself, in the postcard scenery, seemed somehow implausible, inappropriate, toy. The bosses who sat for a long time as the first secretary of the Central Committee did not distinguish themselves by specific nasty things: first Ivan Kabin (they sent him and his assistant Elmar Mattyu to solve problems: “Go to Kabin and Mattyu” - the sound recording turned out to be indecent), and then Karl Vaino (namesake of Marx, patronymic Genrikhovich). Arnold Ruutel, who headed the Supreme Council of the Estonian SSR since the early 1980s, was subsequently elected president of Estonia, just before the current Toomas Hendrik Ilves, an American political scientist and journalist in the world.
Mass holidays on the Singing Field looked like allowed anti-Soviet. Maestro Gustav Ernesaks, a lion-like man, conducted the cyclopean choir. People in national costumes sang the song Mu isamaa - “My Fatherland”, completely devoid of Soviet lining, and tears flowed down their cheeks.
Showcase turned inside
Now Tallinn is also a showcase, only for its own. The assortment for sale is essentially the same: an unprecedented number of cafes and restaurants even for Europe, the same liqueurs, textiles, the Old Town lacquered to a shine. The country is small, as Dovlatov said, "intimate." A normal multi-party system draws any forces into the political process, including those representing the Russian-speaking population (though the Russian Party has not entered the current parliament, and the ruling Reform Party is an analogue of our Union of Right Forces). The key players are essentially "fragments" of the Soviet system: the current vice president of the European Commission, former head of the national bank, foreign minister, prime minister and founder of the Reform Party, Siim Kallas, once headed the Estonian Soviet trade unions. The current prime minister, who distinguished himself in the history of the "Bronze Soldier" 2 Andrus Ansip, at one time was in charge of the organizational department of the Tartu district committee of the Communist Party of the Estonian SSR. Edgar Savisaar, ex-premier and mayor of Tallinn, headed the last Estonian Gosplan.
Nevertheless, the issue of the Soviet legacy remains painful. Veterans of the SS were not seen on the streets, and all their actions are, according to the definition of Vladimir Yushkin, "within the framework of knocking out a certain social status." However, last year's story with the Bronze Soldier turned out to be very painful. The trial of Arnold Mary is also ambiguous (see marginal notes). One thing is clear: relations between Estonia and Russia would not be so tense if someone bothered to discuss them. But everyone is waiting for the opposite side to make the first move. The Estonian leadership says it pins certain hopes on Dmitry Medvedev, but they shouldn't be asking him to talk.
And so ... The city is full of Russian tourists. Especially, they say, for the New Year. It seems like Europe, but still cheaper, and the staff speaks Russian ...
The Ambassador of Estonia, Marina Kaljurand, who was "hurt" by the Nashi movement, completed her work in Moscow. On June 16, 2008, a new Estonian Ambassador to Russia, Simmu Tiik, was appointed. He was born on February 19, 1959, and has been working at the Estonian Foreign Ministry since 1993. He worked as an adviser on foreign affairs to Prime Ministers Mart Laar and Siim Kallas.
On June 17, 2008, Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree "On the procedure for entering the Russian Federation and leaving the Russian Federation for stateless persons who were citizens of the USSR and residing in the Republic of Latvia or the Republic of Estonia." The decree states: "To establish that ... stateless persons who were citizens of the USSR and residing in the Republic of Latvia or the Republic of Estonia, enter the Russian Federation and exit the Russian Federation without issuing visas."
Arnold Meri - the first Estonian to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, from 1945 to 1949 - 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Estonian SSR. Cousin of former President of Estonia Lennart Meri. Accused of crimes against humanity. The Estonian prosecutor's office initiated a criminal case against Meri on charges of organizing and participating in the deportation of the inhabitants of Fr. Hiiumaa in March 1949. According to prosecutors, Meri was personally responsible for the deportation of 251 residents of the island.
_____________ 1 Prime Minister 1992–1994 and 1999–2002. He implemented reforms so quickly and effectively that by 2000, Estonia was the only former Soviet republic to recover, according to the World Bank, 85% of its 1990 GDP.
2 The monument to the fallen in World War II was erected in 1947, moved with a scandal on April 30, 2007 to the Military Cemetery in Tallinn.
