Two medieval fortresses face each other across the Narva River separating Estonia from Russia on Europe’s eastern edge.
Once a symbol of cooperation, the “Friendship Bridge” connecting the two snow-covered banks has been reinforced with rows of razor wire and “dragon’s teeth” anti-tank obstacles on the Estonian side.
“The name is kind of ironic,” regional border chief Eerik Purgel said.
Photo: AFP
Some fear the border town of more than 50,0000 people — a mixture of Estonians, Russians and people left stateless after the fall of the Soviet Union — could be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s next target.
On the Estonian side of the bridge, the NATO flag flutters in the wind beside those of Estonia and the EU.
People in cars used to queue up to cross the Narva River to go shopping and see relatives in Russia, but today, the crossing is closed to traffic and travelers pull their luggage across on foot.
As Moscow’s war against Ukraine approaches its fourth anniversary, the mood in Narva is gloomy.
“Here at the edge of Europe the war feels different,” Narva Mayor Katri Raik said. “We see Russia across the border every day.
“We’re all thinking about what comes next,” she added.
Since the Russian invasion, Estonia has reinforced its defenses.
Its army is tiny. The Estonian Ministry of Defense said a force of just fewer than 44,000 people could be deployed to defend the country if necessary, alongside about 2,000 troops from allied NATO countries.
Estonian authorities have also sought to enhance national security with other measures. They have stripped Russians and stateless residents of the right to vote in local elections, and are switching to teaching in Estonian in dozens of schools.
Those reforms have hit Russian-speaking Narva hard.
The changes, combined with high unemployment, soaring energy bills, a collapse in ties with Russia and fear of conflict, have heightened tensions in the border town.
“This is the most difficult period in our history in about 40 years,” town council chairman Mihhail Stalnuhhin said, denouncing policies targeting Russian speakers. “It’s compounded by the constant talk of war, war, war, war, war. People are going through a very difficult moral, economic and social situation.”
In Narva, about half of all residents are Estonian, one-third hold Russian citizenship and about 7,000 people are stateless.
Much of the historic baroque Old Town was destroyed during World War II, and under Soviet rule, Narva became predominantly Russian-speaking.
Thirty-five years after Estonia won independence, Narva is still struggling with its sense of identity.
Vladimir Aret, a 32-year-old hotel manager and member of the town council, said many in Narva felt caught between two worlds.
“I am European, but we sometimes joke that we do not understand what our homeland is,” he said.
While many — including Aret — call themselves Estonian patriots, some praise Putin.
Some people in Narva speak only Russian. They watch Russian television and are nostalgic for the Soviet past.
Russia regularly rails against the Estonian government, with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs slamming “Estonia’s growing Russophobic madness” and the authorities’ “neo-Nazi” policies in a report last year.
Some back the Moscow view.
“We, Russian speakers, are being discriminated against,” a woman in Narva said.
Olga Kolesnikova, a stateless 64-year-old, disagreed.
“I don’t feel disadvantaged,” she said, adding that three of her four children were Estonian citizens.
Aleksandr Gruljov, a 59-year-old construction worker, said he was even considering giving up Russian citizenship.
“Nobody is oppressing anyone here,” he added.
German political scientist Carlo Masala said depriving Russian citizens in Estonia of the right to vote in local elections was “a perfect gateway for Russian propaganda.”
As in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, “Russia can argue that the rights of its minorities living abroad are under threat, providing a reason to protect them, if necessary by military means,” he said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cast the political sympathies of Estonia’s Russian-speaking population into the spotlight.
“Will they support the state in the event of war, possibly against Russia?” asked a 2023 study of the country’s Russian-speaking minority.
According to its findings, 65 percent of Estonia’s Russian speakers said they were “rather or definitely patriots of Estonia,” whereas 28 percent said that they were “rather or definitely not.”
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