Thousands of Russian ethnic voters living in Estonia prepare to vote in EU election

euronews (in English)

Euronews spoke with Russians living in Estonia, who are eligible to vote in the EU elections, regarding their priorities and challenges for the upcoming polls.

Transcript

00:00 Nearly 300,000 Russians live in Estonia.

00:04 They regularly vote in elections, including the upcoming EU ones.

00:09 Russian speakers usually vote for Russian-speaking candidates.

00:13 Jan Atom is one of the most popular among them.

00:17 The first thing we need is so-called political nations.

00:20 We don't have it in Estonia.

00:22 In Estonia we measure it by DNA, so to say.

00:25 I absolutely refuse to make Russian-speaking children in Estonia

00:32 to be somehow linked to what Putin is doing.

00:37 Jan Atom's supporters are rather pro-European

00:40 and distance themselves from Russia's actions and aims.

00:44 The solidarity of the European Union and refugees,

00:47 and now this military situation.

00:49 I feel that if it wasn't for the support of the EU, we wouldn't have gone far from Soviet times.

00:58 Young Estonians coming from Russian families

01:03 want above all to build bridges between the ethnic groups in the country.

01:08 The candidate that I'm going to vote for

01:12 represents and understands also Russian-speaking minority struggles,

01:17 challenges and opportunities,

01:20 and doesn't just disregard it as something that has to be integrated somewhere,

01:24 but actually sees this as a whole picture that actually we integrate on both ways.

01:29 There are also pro-Russian voices in the country,

01:33 like Ivo Petersson, an MEP candidate who is now in prison.

01:38 Party or movement which is very, very friendly to Putin.

01:45 And the irony is that the main candidate,

01:48 or actually I think he's the only candidate for this party,

01:52 is waiting for the court in pretrial detention right now,

01:59 because there is a charge against him for cooperating with Russian special services.

02:07 However, not every Russian will be able to vote in the upcoming EU elections.

02:12 Part of the Russian diaspora in Estonia

02:15 includes the ones who, despite the years spent in the country,

02:18 do not have Estonian citizenship.

02:20 Magdalena Khadovnik from the Estonian-Russian border in Narva for Euronews.

02:25 [INAUDIBLE]

Category

Transcript

Recommended