Baltics: From Russia With Love? : Problem for 3 lands--foreign dominators and descendants in their midst

No issue more energizes Russia’s nationalists than the perceived need to assure the state’s protection to the 25 million or so ethnic Russians who live in the now independent countries of the former Soviet Union. And no issue more disturbs the people and governments of some of those newly independent countries, the three Baltic republics especially, than what to do about the ethnic Russians in their midst. President Clinton boldly addressed this controversy earlier this week when he became the first American leader to visit Latvia. He said the right things, and said them very well. But the cold reception given his moderate words indicates just how sensitive is the subject he raised.

About one-third of Latvia’s 2.68 million people are Russians. As with the Russians in the other Baltic states--there are about 390,000 in Lithuania and more than 500,000 in Estonia--most came after 1940, when the Soviet Union forcibly annexed the three countries. To the resentful majority populations, the Russians are invaders who should now go home. But to most Russians who live there the Baltics are their home.

Here is one of those seemingly irreconcilable human problems that can so easily provide the spark for a political explosion. It’s impossible not to sympathize with the Baltic peoples, who regained control over their homelands after half a century of foreign domination. But sympathy must also go to the Russians among them, many of whom have never known any other home.

The United States has been trying to help broker a deal that would see the withdrawal of all Russian troops still in the Baltics in exchange for agreement by the three states to allow resident Russians to become citizens. That deal has included an offer of housing vouchers worth $25,000 for each of the 2,500 Russian officers still in Latvia and Estonia if they go back to Russia. That would help with part of the problem. The larger part--the rights that might be granted to the remaining Russians--is infinitely more difficult.

As with so many ethnic-political conflicts in Europe, this is not simply a local issue. Most Russians are concerned about the fate of their countrymen in the Baltics, and most probably think their government has an obligation to use force if need be to help protect them. Washington is right to use its good offices to try to find an acceptable solution. The challenge is getting all the parties to agree on just what acceptable means.