Sep 16, 2008

Activists call for Russian autonomy in Estonia

Geez, it's a busy day. Russia Today: Leaflets have been distributed in Estonia calling on the Russian ethnic minority to hold a referendum and create a territorial autonomy in the Baltic state. That’s according to ‘Vesti Dnya’ newspaper.

Authors of the leaflets, an organisation called “The Union of South Westerners of New Generation” suggest Russians who live in Estonia should be registered and given IDs. Then a referendum on creating a Russian autonomy should be held. They believe these actions should be combined with European parliamentary election campaign.

The organisation has already found a place for the autonomy and published it on the leaflet with the Estonian map. The South Westerners marked the borders of the suggested autonomy at the North of the country which includes several districts and a large part of Lake Chudskoye.

For those of you wondering, the territory of Estonia covers 45,227 square kilometers. Looking for a frame of reference? The state of Virginia is more than twice the size of Estonia. Is everyone going to be autonomous now? Thanks, Russia, for recognizing South Ossetia. The flood gates are open!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Thanks, Russia, for recognizing South Ossetia. The flood gates are open" surely the thanks should go to the West for first recognising Kosovo.

Ern said...

Touche, anonymous. Touche.

Anonymous said...

This looks like a joke, actually. Here's a relevant point from the RT story:

"In 2007, when the union was created, it had 30 members. However, that number has decreased since then."

Wow, talk about a mass movement!

Ern said...

I think if you get enough people of the same ethnicity in a bar one night you could start your own autonomous region. It's all the rage.

Anonymous said...

Would Putin accept autonomous regions in Russia for Jews or Catholics or Germans or Finns or...? We all know it's his attempt at the new Old Empire.

Also, don't be put off by the group's membership; remember how the Nazis and Soviets started.

Anonymous said...

There are autonomous regions in Russia for jews (jewish autonomous Oblast), Finno-Ugric people (Republic of Karelia, Udrmurtia, Mordovia, Mari EL, Komi), and all other types of people like tatars, chechens, ingush, mongolic people like altaic and much, much more. Also Germans and Catholics are recognized and have their own communities, along the Volga for example. So don't post random things and do some research beforehand. And as far as this movement, it is stupid, most Russians in Estonia just want to be recognized and have the language be accepted, since they do constitute 25 percent of the population.

Unknown said...

I guarantee you that 90 percent of people in a county named Ida-Virumaa cant speak estonian and even less other languages. It is the county that wants to be autonomous part.
None of them are being mistreated. They even allow teachers on school that havent bothered to learn estonian though it is against the law. Same goes for many other jobs also. I personally think we should deport these immigrants who have lived here for 60 years at least
and havent bothered to learn the language.