Conflicts divide ethnic Russian parties

  • 2002-07-11
  • Aleksei Gunter
TALLINN

Internal clashes in Estonia's fractured ethnic Russian parties means they are looking increasingly unlikely to team up in time for municipal elections in October.

The turmoil began when the Russian Baltic party expelled former Chairman Sergei Ivanov, one of independent Estonia's political veterans.

The party board said Ivanov was booted because his views were in sharp contrast with most party members and the party's official program.

Tension between Ivanov and the Russian Baltic party's chairman had been tense since the former signed a cooperation agreement with Prime Minister Siim Kallas' liberal Reform Party in March to improve interparty relations.

"Ivanov wants to dissolve the (Russian Baltic) party and liquidate the Russian political movement in Estonia in general," said new party Chairman Viktor Lanberg.

At the time, Ivanov justified his agreement with Kallas as practical politics.

"The problems of Russians in Estonia can be solved only with the help and active cooperation with Estonian politicians. The time for confrontation and nationalist competition is up," he said.

Ivanov said the decision was illegal and vowed to challenge it in a Tallinn court.

Another party, Russian Unity, is also in shambles. A court case against current Chairwoman Alfri-da Liivak is still pending, thus preventing the party's board from carrying out decisions she had made until the case is decided.

The United People's Party, the largest Russian party in Estonia, tried to smooth out the tension with a June 18 meeting of the major Russian forces, and Chair-man Yevgeny Tomberg said he still hoped to unite the Russian groups ahead of local elections on Oct. 20.

But the odds seem stacked against him. Most Estonian voters make little or no distinction among the five Russian parties registered in Estonia, said Radio Free Europe analyst Juri Leesment, while Russians themselves are hardly a homogenous group and are increasingly looking to mainstream Estonian parties.

"The contrast betweeen the aspirations of a Russian born in Estonia who respects it, an emigrant who wants Soviet days to return and a successful Russian businessman is huge," said Leesment.

Just over a quarter of Estonia's 1.4 million people are native Russian speakers.