Russians in Estonia today. The life of people in Tallinn

400,000 people live in Tallinn, 430,000 people are registered. Tallinn is the only region in Estonia where population growth is maintained, on the one hand, the population of Tallinn is slowly moving to the countries of Western Europe, but residents of the countryside come to the place of those who left. The female population of Tallinn slightly exceeds the male population, this can be justified by the fact that the men left for Western Europe to work, the women stayed at home. Estonians make up 55% of the city's population, 36% Russians, 3.5% Ukrainians, 1.8% Belarusians, 0.6% Finns. 83.3% of the inhabitants of Tallinn speak Russian, 74.2% also speak Estonian, 18.9% Finnish, 34.8% English, 10.7% German, 1.5% French, these are official population census data for 2000 year, here the percentage of English speakers is especially striking, it is up to you to believe such data or not. Lutherans make up 11.4%, Orthodox 18.3% of the population. 70.3% are atheists and other religions. Note that the population of Tallinn, as well as Estonia as a whole, is distinguished by a large percentage of non-believers, Estonia can be said to be the most atheistic country in the world.

Tallinn has the largest percentage of residents of non-citizens in the European Union among other cities, namely 27.8% of the population are non-citizens of Estonia, such a percentage appeared on the same day after the declaration of independence of Estonia and the fall of the USSR regime.

Today, most of the non-citizens were able to obtain citizenship, a big anti-stimulus to obtain Estonian citizenship is the visa-free entry into Russia of non-Estonian citizens introduced in 2008, while receiving Estonian citizenship, Russians cannot enter Russia without a visa. Also, in order to obtain citizenship, you must pass the Estonian language proficiency exam, which, by the way, is very difficult. During Soviet times, Russians living in Estonia did not want to learn Estonian. Today, many stateless Russians in Estonia are people of the older generation, unskilled workers, low-skilled employees who do not need Estonian for work at all. Non-citizens have some restrictions in professional activity, for example, they cannot be a notary, a lawyer, a security guard, a policeman, work in aviation, and non-citizens are also deprived of the right to privatize housing.

Weather and climate in Tallinn

Half maritime half continental, summers are cool with temperatures around 20 degrees, winters are changeable with temperatures from 0 to -15 degrees on average, despite the fact that Tallinn has numerous beaches including Pirita, Stromka, Pikakari and Kakumäe still swim even in the warmest months of summer it will be cool, the water temperature is unlikely to exceed 18 degrees Celsius, if the wind blows from the land, then warm water goes further to the sea and it becomes impossible to swim. Rain is very likely from October to March, from May to September the weather in Tallinn is generally very pleasant, the number of cloudy days is not significant, at least compared to Helsinki or St. Petersburg.

Apartments, houses, rent, purchase in Tallinn

A feature of Estonia and Tallinn is the distribution of land tax among residents of private houses and apartment buildings. The amount of tax can range from 0.1 to 2.5 percent of the cadastral value of the land plot for the year. For example, for an apartment you will have to pay 30 euros as a land tax. Utility bills in Estonia are very high, even higher than in Western Europe, for example, for heating an apartment of 60 square meters, you need to pay 150 euros per month, the total cost of utilities for such an apartment often exceeds 300 euros per month. Renting a two-room apartment in Tallinn is about 600 euros per month, half of this amount will go to utilities.

The cost of a square meter of real estate in Tallinn is 800-1000 euros, the prices, frankly, are the same as in Kyiv.

Living in Tallinn for Russian residents reviews, pros and cons, disadvantages and advantages standard of living

Tallinn is naturally a quieter city than Moscow, at first it seems to be a tourist destination, with many foreign tourists in the old town which boasts gothic architecture. Tallinn is not only a historical city, there are also modern quarters with boutiques, shopping centers, tall modern office buildings, in general, a real European city with a modern and historical part.

As for the standard of living, Estonia is somewhere in 40th place, Russia is in 70th place, prices in Moscow and Estonia in general are the same, you can also say about salaries. Why the oppressed Russians in Tallinn did not want to return to their homeland, on the one hand, this is due to the fact that Estonia, as it were, is already Europe, everything sparkles and glitters here, nothing smells, on the other hand, many have already lost all ties with their homeland and start from the beginning they did not consider it necessary to live. Young people were able to learn the Estonian language or even move to live in Western Europe, people of the older generation are living their lives as best they can.

Prices in Tallinn, shops, shopping, cost of living, level, quality of life

Prices differ from what you see in Russia, especially the prices of gasoline, alcohol, cigarettes, all due to higher excises. Food prices are the same as in Moscow, the same applies to prices for clothing, goods and services.

For example, coffee in Talin in a cafe can cost 1.5 euros, a loaf of bread 1 euro. Nevertheless, Estonia is considered the cheapest country in the European Union.

Study, education, universities Tallinn

The problem seems to be that in Estonia and specifically in Tallinn there are very few Russian schools left, but if you look at Ukraine, for example, at the city of Kyiv, you can find a more unfortunate picture, when more than half of the population in Kyiv speaks Russian, and the Russian schools themselves probably no longer exist at all, so there is nothing to say in terms of the oppression of Russians in Tallinn. Estonian diplomas are recognized in the EU countries, the study program at the universities of Tallinn is the same as in the EU. Tallinn is a great place for those who want to get cheap higher education and get a qualified job with a recognized diploma in the West, especially since local universities offer education in English. As for the quality of education, it is not much higher than in Poland, other countries of Eastern Europe, in other words, at a very average level, but at the same time it is not expensive. We can say more that today higher education is more imaginative in the USA and Great Britain, according to the reports of statistical organizations, only a couple of points higher than in Italy, Spain, Greece, Poland and Estonia, so is there any point in overpaying for something that is not there. But on the other hand, the level of preparation of a high school student in neighboring Helsinki is equal to the level of a university graduate in Tallinn, there is something to think about.

Jobs, vacancies, salaries, economy in Tallinn

Estonia is happy to accept foreigners who are ready to open their own business here and buy real estate at their own peril and risk, it may look like suicide against the backdrop of a quarter of the Estonian population who did not want to work in their homeland and went to work in the countries of Western Europe. Of course, it is unlikely that businessmen from Europe will go to Estonia, most likely it will be Russians. Tallinn is the main city in Estonia, first of all, it can be considered as a settlement and starting a business. Estonia has very soft tax laws, which are about the same as in other EU countries, which means that low taxes for business start-ups, a progressive scale that can already affect a huge business. It should be noted that in Estonia there is practically no shadow economy, salaries are paid officially, not in envelopes, as in other Baltic republics and even other countries of Eastern Europe.

It should be noted that unemployment among persons without Estonian citizenship is several times higher than among citizens. Labor migration has played a cruel joke on Tallinn, there is a shortage of qualified medical personnel, doctors have left for the west for big salaries.

Transport in Tallinn

Travel for non-citizens and guests of the capital is 1.6 euros per trip, travel for citizens and local residents is free. If you buy at a kiosk, the ticket will cost euros, there are travel cards for the whole day for 4.47 euros, for 3 days 7.35 euros. There are big problems with parking in Tallinn, in the city center an hour of parking can cost 5 euros, in general it is recommended to leave the car in one place for walking, parking at shopping centers is free, but not for the whole day.

Estonia recently held parliamentary elections. W The Russian-speaking Center Party came in second with 25 percent of the vote. However, the slogan"Estonia for Estonians" and nationalists still in favor. Professor of the Department of European Studies spoke about this on the air of the video channel of the site St. Petersburg State UniversityNikolay Mezhevich.

What choice did Estonia make?

— Nikolai Maratovich, and togas parliamentary elections in Estonia, were they unexpected for you and for Estonians?

- I think that for you, and for me, and for the voters of the Republic of Estonia, there was a significant element of surprise.

— In what?

Four parties were represented in the parliament. Now there will be six parties. This is a pretty significant increase. The Social Democrats lost their votes. It is a rather young party, with a young and energetic leader, who took a position in the field of foreign and domestic policy almost the same as the entire right-wing coalition.

Accordingly, this is also a surprise. It is also unexpected that with the obvious victory in the personal championship of the prime minister and the political leader of the reformists, the overall situation of the reformists turned out to be, to put it mildly, not brilliant.

That is, there is no great confidence in the coalition in power, it has fallen significantly. One can say that all four traditional parties are facing a challenge. This is a challenge to society due to the lack of novelty in programs, attention to issues of social life and national economy. The last two points apply, perhaps, to everyone except the centrists.

– Mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar confidently won in the individual competition. His Center Party also achieved great success, but still gained 2 percent fewer votes than the Reform Party. Why couldn't they come out on top?

- In the individual championship, Savisaar really retained his positions, even improved, and there was no radical victory for the centrists. Sociological research data showed that the centrists would gain more votes than before. And so it happened. But no one promised absolute victory. An absolute victory in the conditions of a parliamentary republic is 50 percent plus one vote, that is, the opportunity to form a parliamentary coalition of oneself.

If this happened, then the President of Estonia and the entire composition of the Parliament would have to admit that this is absolutely the first political force in terms of rank, although they were constantly oppressed, accused of all sins, up to treason. The winning party appoints the prime minister. This did not happen, so it is likely that we will face a somewhat new coalition, in which the traditional right-wing parties will add new right-wing parties to themselves, and thus be able to ignore the centrists in principle and further.

- And what are these new parties? Are they any different from traditional right-wing parties? Why did they take votes from the Social Democrats?

- There is a formula "50 shades of gray", and this is "50 shades of right." That is, they are right-wingers, and conservatives, and nationalists. These are new leaders, although the same dish, but with a slightly different sauce. In fact, they are all right-wing, and these are new ones with elements of ultra-rightism. In fact, their slogan is "Estonia for Estonians".

In general, now we can say that two more ultra-conservative nationalist parties have been added to the two traditionally right-wing ones.

- They went on under the slogan "Estonia for Estonians"?

Yes, that was their main slogan. In general, there is only one slogan in foreign policy: "Estonia is a besieged fortress, Moscow is an enemy." Therefore, we must prepare to defend the country, we are threatened, all our problems are exclusively of Moscow origin. Moreover, these are all problems in the past, present and future - they are all Moscow. In short, everyone is to blame, from the Pskov principality to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

The Center Party proceeds from the fact that Estonia can effectively develop in the economic and political spheres if it establishes mutually beneficial partnership relations with all its neighbors. From the point of view of Savisaar and the whole party, Estonia will then be able to be effective.

Even as a young man, in 1987 Edgar Savisaar came out with the same slogan, with the program of an independent Estonia, which was supposed to become a bridge between East and West. He actively promoted this idea, in many ways he led his country to independence, and without bloodshed. In Latvia and Lithuania, there were victims associated with those political transformations of 1990-1991. Not in Estonia.

- How many now in Estonia living non-citizens?

Estonia has been in a state of depopulation for a quarter of a century. Some demographers predict the absolute extinction of the country in a hundred years: each generation of Estonians is smaller than the previous one, and this will continue to be the case. This pessimistic scenario is not able to brighten up this year's demographic statistics. Positive dynamics, but at the expense of migrants. Although the authorities assure the European Union of their hospitality, Estonian society wants to grow at the expense of native citizens and is not particularly happy with the influx of foreigners. Estonians are well understood by their neighbors - Latvians and Lithuanians, whose numbers are also declining.

Baltic demographic crisis

The number of Latvia and Estonia began to decrease since the collapse Soviet Union. The last twenty-five years of being in the common space of the European Union did not contribute to the growth in the number of citizens.

The population of Estonia has decreased by fifteen percent since 1991, Latvia - by twenty-six percent, Lithuania - by twenty-three percent:

• Estonia, 1991 - 1,561 million people / 2016 - 1,316 million people;
• Latvia, 1991 - 2,658 million people / 2016 - 1,900 million people;
• Lithuania, 1991 - 3,700 million people / 2016 - 2,800 million people.

To understand how the demographic minus appears, two indicators must be taken into account: what is the natural profit or population decline, i.e. the ratio of births and deaths, as well as the level of migration.

These figures for Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have been negative for many years. More people die than are born, and the number of those who left is much greater than those who entered the country.

Natural decline and migration in the Baltic States

For a quarter of a century, demographers cite statistics reflecting population decline due to natural causes and as a result of leaving the Baltic countries. The population of Estonia has decreased due to natural causes by ninety thousand, due to migration - by one hundred and fifteen thousand people. The population of Latvia has decreased by almost seven hundred thousand people, more than half of the citizens have emigrated. Lithuania has lost one hundred and eighty-three thousand people in a quarter of a century due to natural causes, the result of migration is the loss of six hundred and seventy thousand people.

Reasons for the decrease in the Estonian population

In Estonia, people tend to see the causes of depopulation not in the economic and political aspect, but in the historical one. Seriously, the birth rate fell on the eve of the twentieth century, and later it was not possible to increase life expectancy. Another reason, according to experts, rests on the days of the Soviet Union. Migration flows increased, mechanical growth was positive. However, by 1991, those who moved to Estonia in the 1940s and 1950s began to age, and those who were dying outnumbered those who were able to give birth.

The birth rate has also decreased due to a change in views on the age when it is time to become parents. Previously, women gave birth before the age of twenty-two, today they are in no hurry to become mothers, the birth of the first child is postponed. Young people want to get on their feet first, buy a house, a car.

Population of Estonia by years

Since 1991 natural growth, general population growth and Estonia have started to go into negative territory. Estonia:

• 1980 - 1,472,190 people;
• 1990 - 1,570,599 people;
• 1995 - 1,448,075 people;
• 2000 - 1,372,710 people; natural increase - minus 5,336, total increase - minus 7,116, migration processes - 1,830 people;
• 2013 - 1,320,174 people; natural increase - minus 1,713, total increase - minus 5,043, migration processes - 3,300 people;

In 2016, more than fourteen thousand people were born in Estonia, fifteen and a half thousand died. Natural increase - minus one and a half thousand, migration processes - more than two thousand people.

Change in the ethnic composition of Estonia

The ethnic composition of Estonia has changed in thirty years. But not significantly. Given the size of the population of Estonia, the following data is obtained:

• 1989: Estonians 61.5%, Russians 30.3%, Ukrainians 3.1, Belarusians 1.8, Finns 1.1;
• 2011: Estonians 68.7%, Russians 24.8%, Ukrainians 1.7%, Belarusians 1.0, Finns 0.6%;
• 2016: Estonians 69%, Russians 25%, Ukrainians 1.7%, Belarusians 1%, Finns 0.6%.

Russians mostly live in the capital of Estonia - Tallinn. The most "Russian" city in Estonia is Narva, where ninety-seven percent of Russians are by nationality.

Estonian cities by population

1. Tartu - 97 322.
2. Narva - 58 375.
3. Pärnu - 39 784.
4. Castle-Jarve - 36 662,
5. Viljandi - 17 549.
6. Maardu - 17,141.
7. Rakvere - 15 303.
8. Sillamäe - 13 964.
9. Kuressaare - 13,000.
10. Jõhvi - 12 567.

The smallest population is in Püssy, just over a thousand people; in Kallaste and Mõizaküla - eight hundred people each.

How migration affects the demographics of Estonia

Mechanical growth leads to a decrease in demographics. In Soviet times, many ethnic groups came to Estonia, because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was created here, through which Jews, ethnic Germans and Finns could leave for their historical homeland.

Moreover, the population in Estonia was very mobile. For example, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many did not want to stay and left the country. Increased emigration. But after 2011, the reverse process began.

Today, the Estonian population continues to shrink and age. The Department of Statistics of the Republic gives the following calculations: over a quarter of a century, the population of the country has decreased by 200,000 people, by 2040 the population will fall by another 10%.

Resettlement of the Balts

For the Baltic states, the mass exodus of citizens to other countries is becoming a serious problem. Moreover, half of those who left Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are people from 18 to 30 years old, 70% are people from fourteen to forty years old.

From Latvia and Lithuania, most move to Britain and Scandinavia. A small number emigrate to the US, Russia and Canada. Estonians mostly choose Finland.

In terms of population decline, Latvia and Lithuania are among the European leaders. In 2016, 8,000 more people left Latvia than arrived. Lithuania - by 30,000 people.

Only Estonia managed to break the sad trend. The country begins a slow demographic growth due to migration. For 2015-2016 19,000 people left Estonia, but 24,500 returned or came to live.

In a situation where an increase in the demographic minus is expected, the Balts have no choice but to increase the population through an attractive social policy for migrants. Lithuania, for example, offers the easiest way to obtain a residence permit in the European Union and a low tax rate for entrepreneurs. Foreign students in Estonia can stay to live in the country after receiving a diploma.

But a greater effect in the Baltic countries is expected from measures aimed at increasing the birth rate.

Child benefits in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

In Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, free childbirth is organized in public maternity hospitals, as well as doctor's appointments, tests and ultrasounds. But those who wish can pay for additional comfort:

• a separate room - from 50 to 80 € per day;
• the ability to choose a specific doctor - from 400 to 600 €;
• individual approach to childbirth - from 50 to 1,000 €.

The duration of parental leave in Estonia is three years, in Lithuania - two years, in Latvia - one and a half years.

In each republic, benefits to parents are considered differently.

The one-time payment for the birth of a child in Lithuania exceeds 400 €; payment for maternity leave in the amount of four salaries of the mother; father's allowance is equal to one annual leave.

One-time payment in Latvia - about 420 €. Payment maternity leave- 43% of the mother's salary. up to two years - 3 300 €. The amount of the allowance for the first child is 11 €, paid monthly until the age of sixteen.

In Estonia, the one-time one-time allowance is 320 €. The payment for maternity leave takes into account the level of the average salary. Child allowance up to sixteen years - 50 € per month. The amount of such parental allowance for up to one and a half years depends on the salary of the parents. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the country now belongs to the European Union, the standard of living is steadily rising, wages are rising, material assistance is being provided to various segments of the population.

In addition, various programs to support large families operate in the country. For example, an Estonian family with three children receives only five hundred euros per month from child allowances. In Latvia, the allowance is less and amounts to seventy euros.

I have been permanently in Yesti for almost two years, and in this post I would like to touch on the topic not of difficulties and amenities in the Baltics, but of the Russians.
There are a lot of Russians in Estonia - ~ 26%, according to Wikipedia. I'm friends with some, I'm not with some, I've encountered more large quantity, and now for two years I have accumulated enough thoughts about whiners and sovkodrocherov, of which there are plenty.

The view will be from the outside and fairly impartial. I emphasize once again that I have many Russian friends both here and in Raska, but this does not affect my attitude to this above-mentioned category.

For example. In the newspaper here, on the Internet there - everywhere one way or another very often slip hysterical notes on the topic "How badly we live." When I came across in one of the newspapers in the summer about the complaints “We spend as much as 22% of our monthly budget on food”, I confess that I laughed.
And the topic of relations in Russia is also very often raised. Just yesterday I read in a newspaper that, they say, it is necessary to preserve cultural traditions; how Russians are oppressed in Estonia, it’s somehow expensive, it’s even more expensive, they pay little money, but in Russia this and this is better.

Rhetorical question: are you guys crazy? Have you been to Russia for a long time? I have lived there most of my life, and Estonia for me is manna from heaven compared to the country of our ancestors.

Are you complaining about high food prices? See how much products cost in Russia and what quality they are. My grandmother, who lives near the border, in Kingisepp, almost crying tells me what delicious cottage cheese is in Estonia - when one of her relatives manages to bring it from here. Grandmother bitterly says that she has not eaten such delicious cottage cheese since the collapse of the Union. My grandmother worked all her life in the food industry. And I'm sure that in Russia now such delicious cottage cheese no. And the sausage that I brought her from here is also much better than that, which is produced in "snowy Nigeria". And in general - all food. I’m not talking about prices: I can buy a pound of excellent beef or pork at Maxim or Selver for two or three euros, which I will cook and eat with pleasure, and something even remotely similar in quality will cost in Russia 2 times more expensive.
Bakery products? Such delicious pastries - and cheap! - you will never find in Russia (except in the bad "Brioche Buns" rubles for 100). Alcohol? When in Russia have you seen such a tasty and at the same time cheap beer, for example? Am I talking about quality? In Raska, a bottle of the cheapest export Krucovice costs 120-150 rubles (3-4 euros) at least in stores in St. Petersburg and Moscow, in Tallinn, even for a euro, you can find delicious local beer. And if here a family spends 22, or even 25% (ouzhos) of the family budget on food, in Russia it takes 70 percent. Because of the high prices from the ceiling and disgusting quality.

What can you say about the smoking ban in most places in Estonia? In Russia, it is difficult to find a cafe or restaurant with a corner where you can hide from tobacco smoke. Smoking in the middle of the line at the bus stop? In Russia, it is everywhere, and everyone perceives it as normal. Here they smoke on the sidelines, and the smoke never reaches others.
In Raska, cheap cigarettes and a totally unenforceable ban on the sale of poison to minors only contribute to this. And do not talk about the fact that next summer an anti-smoking law for cafes and restaurants will be introduced in Raska: it will not be so soon, and will it be at all?

What I agree with is the high prices for utility bills. With one huge "but": at home with overhaul they will give a hundred points ahead of Khrushchev's wrecks and cheap panels at exorbitant prices in Russia. You can pay 150 euros for utility bills in winter while living in a solid and renovated or well-built multi-apartment building in Tallinn - and at the same time not incur additional costs for purchasing heating devices in each room. Again, in fairness, not everyone agrees to renovation, and some houses are still blown through. But there are very few of them - probably, they did not dress better :))

What else? Internet? I have never seen such high-quality and good Internet in Russia. A week, a month without breaks and "cut" traffic? Nonsense! Having lived almost without a break for 8 years in Moscow and using the Internet from various thieves like Beeline, I can say this unequivocally. 19 euros for 20 megabits? Also honest, and not on paper? Where can you find this in Rashka? Especially for the Bulgarians: oh, when I lived there for a month, under the lease agreement it was already 24 Mbps even cheaper, only according to the tests it didn’t go more than 10-11 in the quietest time.

Public transport? In Russia it is getting worse and worse. And I'm not talking about traffic jams and conductors with nervous breakdowns, I'm talking about the technopark, which is becoming more and more dilapidated every year, and municipal transport is becoming less and less in principle. Terrible fixed-route taxis run by hot people from the Caucasus fill everything. Who spit on the rules of the road. And even the fleet of these minibuses - once there were more or less comfortable Chinese ones, which now the thoroughly corrupt Russian authorities (for example, in St. Yes, PAZs are stone-suspended coffins on wheels that bounce you over the slightest bump.

And most importantly - people. You will not find such a number of angry and dissatisfied with their lives trolls anywhere else. I was in Moscow this spring, and the level of human malice is off the charts. God forbid you hurt someone, step on your foot or do not give way to the evil - and at the same time dressed in latest fashion- "grandmother" of fifty years. Grandma will discuss you with neighbors for the whole subway car and curse you with obscenities, not even embarrassed by small children. People in Russia are time bombs that explode at your touch. Queue at the post office in Tallinn? Everyone stands quietly and waits. The queue at the post office in Moscow? Hustle and hubbub on the topic "Yes, they don't work at all, but let me through, my child / grandmother / grandfather / milk ran away, but you weren't standing here, but you go to hell." And I'm not exaggerating.

The above applies to absolutely everything. Looking at the life of the two countries over the past two years, I realized one thing: you need to accept the rules of the game. Do you live in Russia? Accept corruption, be a bribe taker, hate everything and everyone, scold the authorities in the kitchen, eat garbage and litter on the street - like everyone else. Is it absurd? No, this is how the overwhelming majority of people live in Russia. Do you live in Estonia? Know the Estonian language and respect the culture. I realized that many Russians over 35 not only do not want to learn Estonian - they do not do it out of quiet protest against "infringement of their rights." I have various Russian acquaintances in Estonia, and those who know the language and know what they want from life are happy with everything. They don't think that everyone owes them everything because they were born in the USSR and don't engage in parasites. They work, study, fall in love, get married, have children. And do not worry about national issues. They understand that they live in Estonia, not in Russia. And this, I dare say, is true for all countries. Only in every country there are such hysterical sovkodrochers from among the Russians. Alas.

And the funny thing is that these dissatisfied people do not want to leave for Russia! Probably, in hindsight, they are well aware that no matter how bad it is here, it will be even worse in "snowy Nigeria". But here they simply do not want to assimilate and accept the rules of the game - this is the conclusion that I made for myself. They want to go back to the USSR - and they look through the false "First" and believe, probably, all the stream of dirt that rushes from the mouths of the henchmen of the Putin regime through this main mouthpiece of "EdRa".

Dear Baltic sovkodrochery, live a year in Russia. Do not be a "weekend tourist" in St. Petersburg, but just live. Rent an apartment, find a job, take the subway or ground transportation every morning. After that, I guarantee you, Estonia (or Latvia) will seem like a paradise. Even in Turkey, people are much friendlier to each other than in Raska, where they will never give you a hand, you will fall with an attack even on Ligovsky.

I assume that the situation is similar in other post-Soviet Baltic republics, since there are plenty of such whiners there - they whine about how cool it was in the USSR and how bad it is now. And there are many. Lots of. I would put their age at 35+, since those who are younger tend to be much more active. They don't whine, but they do the job.
Least.

I am not saying that Estonia is an ideal country to live in. Not far. But compared to Rashka, the sky is so high and the earth is so deep. And people who have the opportunity to live a quiet life without poison in the lungs, without cave monkeys around the corner, without disgusting dirt on the streets, and where preschool children calmly ride buses themselves, and at the same time blaspheme their lives recklessly - these people, I I think they just screwed up.

UPD. Dear lovers of internet speeds! I suggest that those who claim about the terrible cheapness of your 100-megabit channel for tripisat rubles do tests on 2ip.ru and speedtest.net around 18-20 pm on a weekday and post screenshots in the comments. It was about honest 20 megabits, not fake 100. In the contract, at least 1000 can be drawn. That's when your words will have weight.

On the road from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, Estonia begins gradually, and if the border were conditional, as between Russia and Belarus, it would not be so easy to understand where it passes.

Well-groomed Kingisepp, the former Yamburg with a magnificent Catherine's Cathedral, Art Nouveau houses and the estate of Baron Karl Bistrom - back in Russia: the Bolsheviks gave it an Estonian name in honor of an Estonian comrade-in-arms, a German name - the Swedes in the 17th century, and so it was the Novgorod fortress Yam . The city owes its well-groomedness to the chemical plant behind the forest that successfully "fitted into the market", and even Bistrom, although an Ostsee baron, but only his ancestors were not from Estonia, but from Courland. But here, in the perspective of the highway, almost immediately behind Kingisepp, a high tower becomes visible ... There is Ida-Virumaa, or East Virlandia, the strangest county in Estonia.

Two Strongholds

This is probably the most beautiful border in the world: two medieval fortresses menacingly look at each other across the fast river Narova. Founded by the Danes in 1223, the Russians called Narva Rugodiv; Ivangorod, founded in 1492, was called Kontr-Narva by the Germans. They are very different: in Ivangorod there is a huge, squat, spacious Russian fortress winding along the hills with gray walls; in Narva there is a compact and very tall German castle. Between them there was their own "arms race": the Narva Long German is slightly higher than the Tallinn "namesake" (51 meters), and the Ivangorod fortress is protected from shelling from its top by a frighteningly high wall.

It was turbulent on the border even in peacetime: for example, once the Germans and Russians had a skirmish, and in the end the Ivangorod residents could not stand how the knights “barked the sovereign” there, crossed the river in boats, and when the fight ended, suddenly with surprise realized that they had captured the castle ... which, however, had to be returned in order to avoid a real war. For the first time the border was "erased" by Ivan the Terrible, who took Narva in 1558. Since 1581, both cities belonged to the Swedes, in 1710, Peter I took them on the second attempt, and even when Estonia seceded for the first time, she took Ivangorod with her. In general, for most of its history, the "Two Strongholds" belonged to one state and almost did not fight among themselves ... but now it's hard to believe.

What is surprising: from the low Ivangorod, Narva is viewed much better than Ivangorod from the Narva tower. Without a Schengen visa (but with a pass to the border zone!), you can see the most important sights of Narva - the castle, the huge town hall of the 17th century, the Dark Garden on the Swedish bastions, the impressive Stalinist ensemble of the main street of Pushkin and the high-rise building with a water tower on the roof, the Resurrection Cathedral and the largest Alexander Church in Estonia at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the distant factories of Krenholm. From Narva, you can see such parts of the Ivangorod fortress, which are almost impossible to approach from the Russian side - for example, Petrovsky Caponier.

People are actively running along the Friendship Bridge just below both fortresses - Narvitians and Ivangorod residents can pass the border according to a simplified scheme.

Russian capital of Estonia

The gloomy gray Narva is not very different from the same Kingisepp or Vyborg: well, the streets are a little cleaner, the lawns are much more decent, the shopping centers are an order of magnitude larger, and the inscriptions are mostly not in our opinion, but the five-story buildings and their courtyards, the assortment and music of a few cafes, the faces of passers-by, the ubiquitous Russian speech constantly make you forget that, in fact, you are already in the European Union. It's scary to say - even the monument to Lenin is still standing! Narva is the third largest city in Estonia and is reputed to be its "Russian capital", Estonians in it are only 3% of the population, and even those fellow tribesmen take them for Russians. In the early 1990s, there were even attempts to create the Prynarovskaya republic, and only a high standard of living saved Estonia from its Transnistria.

In general, Narva has a peculiar fate: in 1558-81, it managed to be a Russian "window to Europe" - Ivan the Terrible captured it first, left it last, and all these years, Reval merchants with tears in their eyes watched how merchant ships pass them to the mouth of the Narova. The Swedes, having defeated the Russian army, also oriented Narva to the east, making it the center of a separate province - Ingermanland, stretching to the Neva and Lake Ladoga. Under the Swedes, Narva had the same status as Revel and Riga, and once had a wonderful Old city in the Swedish baroque style ... alas, completely destroyed by the war, except for its main building - the town hall. In the same region, Narva remained under Russia - only now it was called the St. Petersburg province, and with a very impressive size, Narva became a provincial town of the Yamburg district. The borders of the provinces passed literally along its outskirts, on the Estonian side Narva was overgrown with suburbs with an Estonian population. In the city itself there was a Polish church and even a church of the Ingrian Finns, but the Estonians were able to build their church only on the outskirts of Joaorg.

Krenholm and Parusinka

A little higher than Narva on the river, a hydroelectric power station is clearly visible, hiding a real waterfall. In general, there are a lot of waterfalls in Northern Estonia - after all, the Great Ledge passes here, starting under water off the coast of Sweden and stretching to Lake Ladoga: no one knows where it came from, but sheer cliffs over the sea and waterfalls on rivers are a common part of the landscape here. Narva hydroelectric power station - not on the waterfall itself, but on the channel a little lower.

Even at the time when the factories were water-powered, a powerful industrial complex grew up near the waterfall: the legendary philanthropist and finance minister Alexander Stieglitz opened a canvas manufactory on the St. Krenholm was also called Ostsee Manchester, and if Stieglitz had order in the factories and excellent salaries for those times, then the Old Believers had a cholera epidemic in 1872, which turned into the first strike of workers in the history of Russia, primarily Estonian.

Now it's the other way around. Parusinka, a distant region of Ivangorod, amazes with its gloomy color. Tall, shabby walls, amazing architecture, a dominating factory tower, a rocky bed of the Narova with a ledge of a waterfall (water is now rare here - everything goes through the canal to the hydroelectric power station) ... here you feel like a hero of Dickens' novels, here you just expect that now the smoked voices will be dragged out " Get up, branded with a curse ... ".

Krenholm is also gloomy, but it still affects the fact that this is a rather lively area in the center of Narva. There is a hospital in a luxurious building of the early twentieth century, and a factory with high towers that has not been operating for a long time resembles a Romanesque cathedral. But in general, the same world of working barracks, brick houses for the authorities and British engineers, neglected yards where Russian boys play ... The old prison is equipped Orthodox Church. The monumental Stalin-style House of Culture stands abandoned, and the park around it is overgrown and littered. But still, the most amazing thing here is not even Dickensianism, but how the border cuts two regions "on the live": on one side of it you can hear the music playing in the car on the other.

Estonian Donbass

And how did Ida-Virumaa become like this? After all, a hundred years ago, even in Narva, Estonians made up 2/3 of the population, but after the war they never returned to the ruined city. The answer is a little further towards Tallinn, in Sillamae and Kohtla-Jarve. Here the tall pipes of the Narva State District Power Plant, which provide 90% of Estonia's electricity, are left behind, and among the green fields, cozy farms, gabled churches, baronial manors, "stumps" of abandoned mills, you suddenly see real waste heaps. Ida-Virumaa is a mining region, but it is not coal that is mined here, but oil shale.

It all started with the First World War: in St. Petersburg, the 4th largest city in the then world, coal was transported by sea from England. But the war blocked the sea routes, the railways could not cope with the supply of Donbass coal, and then someone remembered that in 1902, near the Estonian village of Kukers, geologist Nikolai Pogrebov discovered a deposit of oil shale. Their production began to develop rapidly, only gaining momentum under young Estonia: after all, this gave it energy independence, and shale oil was exported. The oil shale processing plant in Kohtla-Järve even made it onto the 100-krona banknote - there was generally a typical socialist plot with a hammer in the foreground.

Kohtla-Jarve

The plant in Kohtla-Järve is still working properly, buzzing, smoking and stinking, its workshops are neat, the grass in front of them is mowed, the tower with 100 crowns still stands. Excavators climb multi-colored dumps, locomotives scurry along the railway, and although only one of the 7 mines that operated under the Soviets remains - shale oil is still being exported, and Narva GRES still does not operate on Russian gas or Norwegian oil, but on local slates.

In Kohtla-Jarve, the remains of the Old Town have been preserved - but here these are not narrow streets, castles and town halls, but only a working-class district of the 1920s and 30s, the most striking building of which is an Orthodox church in the cubist style, completely unimaginable in Russia. But most of Kohtla-Järve is such a familiar residential town Stalin era, where, again, only mowed lawns, Latin inscriptions and huge supermarkets give out that we are in the West.

Kohtla-Nõmme, Kukruse, Johvi

In neighboring Kohtla-Nymme there is a mine-museum where an elderly miner leads tourists in helmets and overalls. Kukers, now Kukruse, is a very tiny village, but it has a shale museum and an overgrown waste heap of the first mine, closed in the 1960s. Other settlements such as Sompa throughout Estonia are known as places that are dangerous for walking.

And between the villages of Ida-Virumaa stands the town of Jõhvi, unlike them. Here is already a full-fledged Estonia with a medieval church, an abundance of cafes and indicatively decorated streets, and it is quite possible to meet a person who does not speak Russian. Perhaps that is why it is here, and not in Narva, that the administration of the Ida-Viru County is located.

Russian Estonians and vice versa

But how did the shale survive the Estonians from here? Very simple: the main challenge of the USSR after the Second World War was the American atomic bomb, the country urgently needed uranium and looked for it wherever possible ... for example, they tried to extract it from shale. Therefore, people from all over the Union were sent to restore Narva and Kohtla-Jarve, replacing the indigenous population of the destroyed cities, and the city of Sillamäe grew up by the sea, now also known throughout Estonia for its Stalinist architecture: its plant was built to produce uranium and other rare elements from shale. And although the project did not justify itself, the Russian people who settled in Ida-Virumaa could not be sent back.

So they live here, half are non-citizens, but many have never been to Russia either - it is much easier for them to go to Berlin, Oslo or Rome than to Moscow. However, everyone dreams of visiting St. Petersburg at least once, but Estonians themselves adore St. Petersburg. The local Russians have a different fashion compared to the Russians - in clothes, hairstyles, jewelry, slang ... which may well be organically complemented by a St. George ribbon or a hit of the national stage on the phone. They don’t run across the street at a red light - a fine of 120 euros scares, but it’s no more difficult to see a drunk under a fence here than in Russia.

In general, Ida-Virumaa is an island: to the west they speak a different language, to the east there is a visa border, and from the north and south the sea and Lake Peipsi. Some people here respect Russia more than Russians, others love Estonia more than Estonians. Many are waiting for Russia to return to take Estonian independence - some with horror, others with hope. Both of these extremes look quite ridiculous. And they all remain Russian - in the language, in their favorite books and songs, in the immutability of the "cultural code". The ship "Ida-Virumaa" set sail from its homeland and set sail.