Russians in the Baltic countries: Russian language

Quote under the title of the post. "Lingua Franca": the demand for Russian as a means of communication in business is growing. The Russian language may well be competitive as a second foreign language. Economic interest is much stronger than special status. That would be where to direct efforts and funds.

The adoption of laws on the state language in the Baltic countries after the restoration of independence was a necessary measure to protect the languages ​​of the indigenous peoples of these countries. This became necessary because during the years of Soviet power, as a result of the Russification policy, the languages ​​of indigenous peoples were partially or completely squeezed out of many spheres of activity, including, first of all, public administration, science, production, education, maritime affairs and others.

For immigrants from the USSR and their descendants, the Soviet government created a parallel network of schools in each of the Baltic countries, including higher education, with Russian as the language of instruction, which essentially consolidated the separate coexistence of two communities: Russian and “national” (and this problem has not yet been resolved ). All this deprived immigrants from the USSR and their descendants of any incentive to learn the language of the host country. Knowledge of the Russian language, in contrast to the languages ​​of indigenous peoples, has essentially become mandatory in the Baltic countries. It got to the point that obtaining vital services, such as communication with authorities, medical care and many others, for speakers of Baltic languages ​​in their own country without knowledge of the Russian language was often simply impossible. There can be no doubt that this flagrantly violated the rights of citizens of the Baltic countries.

Laws on the state language require all service providers to guarantee their receipt in the state language, thereby protecting it from being replaced by other languages, and not only Russian. These laws apply to all areas of activity only insofar as they relate to customer service, business correspondence, official documentation and communication with government agencies. That is, special laws on the state language were adopted in the Baltic countries due to a special situation. The Baltic countries are the only place on our planet where the languages ​​of the indigenous peoples of these countries exist in their natural environment, so they need special protection and restoration, this is precisely the purpose of the laws on the state language.

Many people in the Russian-speaking community are convinced that in the Baltic countries the Russian language should receive the status of a second state language, as the language of a very large national minority, and given the existence of areas with a predominantly Russian-speaking population. At the same time, they point to the examples of Switzerland and Finland.

However, the generally accepted term national minority denotes a group of people of the same ethnic origin that ended up in the country legally. The resettlement of USSR citizens of various ethnic origins to the Baltic countries was illegal, since it became possible only as a result of the forced annexation of these countries to the USSR. At the same time, the resettlement was undoubtedly a planned event within the framework of the Russification policy of the Baltic countries, since in Soviet times moving to a new place of residence in another part of the country was practically impossible without special permission from the authorities for registration.

Until now, Russian-speaking communities formed by immigrants from the USSR and their descendants, including even those who became citizens of these countries, continue to remain separated from the indigenous population. In their worldview, political views and culture in general, they are more likely to be Russians. Their consciousness continues to be shaped mainly by Russian mass television channels. They even learn news from their own, actually native Baltic country for most of them, mainly from Moscow. I have heard many times how Russian-speaking residents, even young ones, still call non-Russian-speaking residents of their country “local”, that is, they do not consider themselves local.

There is enough evidence that the Russian authorities manipulate the political preferences of Russian-speaking communities through massive propaganda of certain political parties and leaders, secretive financing of parties and Russian-language media of the Baltic countries from Moscow, and thus have a direct influence on their policies. The governments of the Baltic countries are resigned to such blatant interference from Moscow in their internal affairs, fearing accusations of violating freedom of speech, etc. from EU bureaucrats.

Therefore, Russian-speaking communities formed by immigrants from the USSR and their descendants cannot be considered a national minority. This is a special case. Assigning the status of a second state language to the Russian language in such conditions is absolutely unacceptable, since it would radically strengthen the isolation of Russian-speaking communities, would become a legislative consolidation of certain signs of statehood for them, and for areas with a predominantly Russian-speaking population would be a step towards turning them into Russian enclaves. That is, in essence, it would lead to a split in the country. Moreover, the Russian-language media are already openly discussing initiatives for the elections of individual “Russian” representative bodies and “Russian” autonomous regions.

The statements of the chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs and Relations with Compatriots in the State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, in his interview within the framework of the Lingua Franca project raise serious doubts that the policy of the current Russian leadership is aimed only at supporting the Russian language as a means of interethnic communication. He openly designated all Russian compatriots in the world as “our people”, and stated that “we are rapidly developing the project of creating the Eurasian Economic Union - and here, too, the participation in this project of compatriots themselves is people who want to unite, want integration, cultural integration, linguistic, informational, is of enormous importance." In his interview, he repeated the word integration ten times.

However, it is not only “our people”, our compatriots, who passionately want integration. Slutsky did blurt out what kind of integration he had in mind and who wants it most of all: “Today, more than 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is ripe to really unite the Russian world.” And this is not just his personal opinion, he confirmed that in essence this is Putin’s software installation. But he immediately hastened to reassure the frightened: “we are not creating a new Soviet Union, we are creating the Eurasian Economic Union, first of all as a customs integration association, then as a common market, a single economic space.” Everything will be fine! “We should not consider that the Eurasian and European vectors of development are something opposite to each other. This is something that can easily be combined and fit together well. An example of this is Ukraine itself, which is actively engaged in European integration,” lulls us Slutsky.

Maybe he thinks we don't read newspapers. After all, quite recently a scandal erupted when the director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Gorban, said: “if Ukraine wants to receive gas at a discount, it needs to join the Customs Union, but Ukraine wants to simultaneously maintain two vectors: both to join the European Union and to participate in the Customs Union , but that doesn’t happen. You can’t be a little pregnant.” In short, they decided to call the new Soviet Union the Eurasian Economic Union. So that no one would guess.

By the way, the demand for the Russian language as a means of communication in business is growing. The Russian language may well be competitive as a second foreign language. Economic interest is much stronger than special status. That would be something to direct efforts and funds towards. But the integrators are not interested in the Russian language; they decided to use it to “assemble the Russian world.” Empty troubles - they will not lure us back under the power of Moscow, even for money.