Ukraine invasion puts Estonians on edge

In the Baltic States lives a huge Russian-speaking minority. Are these people manipulated by the Russian leader – or are they loyal to Europe? Estonia is a member of NATO – the defence organization that guarantees the security of the country. Nevertheless, are Estonians afraid of their big neighbour Russia? To find out, our Mobile Journalist Hans von der Brelie grabbed his backpack and travelled to eastern Estonia, to the external borders of the European Union.

Well, it is one of those assignments where you never know in advance if you will get anything out of it: diving into the minds of native Russian speakers in the Far East of Estonia while Russian bombs are falling on Ukraine, trying to understand their mindsets, feeling the vibe of the people.

While Eastern Estonia is weathering freezing temperatures right now, the people’s differing opinions can lead to heated, passionate responses. I spoke to the people of Narva, a town bordering Russia.

Tamara, an elderly Russian-speaking woman with a blood-red bonnet, waiting at a bus station told me,

I met another woman, Anna, who was wearing a blue hat and walking her dog, showing the town to a visiting friend from nearby Russia.

“Some people around here are, hard to say, somewhat brainwashed from the Russian propaganda that we see on TV.”

That is why the European Union decided to unplug Russian TV propaganda channels. When talking to the people of Narva, quite a large number of them did not agree with this decision, in particular many elderly native Russian speakers with limited knowledge of the Estonian language.

It is not the first time that I have worked in eastern Estonia. In 20 years of digging for stories for Euronews, I had a few good reasons to cover this part of Europe