Is Narva Next? How An Estonian City Escaped the Donbas Scenario

Narva has the third largest population in Estonia and the largest city in the northeast region of Ida-Virumaa. About 60,000 people live here, 53,000 of them ethnic Russians – with 87% of locals speaking Russian. The unemployment rate in the area is the highest in the country (8%), 1.5% higher than an average Estonian city. Moreover, the standard of living is somewhat lower than average in Estonia. Parallels made with Crimea are not made for nought – in 1993, the mayor of Narva, Yury Mishin, and his political force, the Union of Russian Citizens, tried to secede from Estonia and even led a referendum that was declared illegitimate. However, Russia did not support the Narva separatists at the time. After the pseudo-referendum, the Estonian government tightened its policy towards the Russian-speaking minority. Since then, in order to obtain Estonian citizenship, candidates have been required to pass an exam, which includes questions about the history, culture and laws of the country – they also had to demonstrate a high level of knowledge of Estonian. Hromadske traveled to Narva in Estonia to see how the city managed to narrowly escape the Donbas scenario. Get up to speed on Ukraine. Follow Hromadske! http://en.hromadske.ua Facebook:   / hromadskeinternational   Twitter:   / hromadske