Estonian parliamentary deputy from the Social Democratic Party Yevgeny Osinovsky criticized the country’s President Kersti Kaljulaid for speaking out against the Russians living in the country, reports the ERR portal.
The head of state drew a flurry of criticism in her address because of the speech on the occasion of the 103rd anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Estonia. She called on Russian-speaking citizens to send their children to schools where education takes place exclusively in Estonian so that they can join the values of the state and not ignore them.
“In fact, it was a very sharp opposition” we – they “. I believe that it was inappropriate and people perceived the speech negatively,” the deputy explained. According to him, the Russian population of the republic was “disappointed and depressed” by the president’s speech, which only “drove a wedge” between the two peoples.
He added that many Russians living in the republic perceive the Independence Day as their own holiday, but instead of congratulations they hear statements in the style: “they say, you, a small group of foreign speakers, now we will tell you how you should live.” >
In 2019, Kaljulaid supported the elimination of the bilingual education system in the country, explaining her position by the fact that teaching Russian in the country’s schools “poses a threat to the Estonian language and culture.” In her opinion, all political forces in the country are united in their position regarding the future of the education system in Estonia, and the rejection of Russian-language schools will allow to stop dividing the country’s population “into two communities.”
Almost 30 percent of Estonian residents consider Russian as their native language. The Russian-speaking population lives in almost all regions of Estonia, but their concentration is highest in the north-east of the country and in the south-east of Tallinn. At the moment, there are 74 Russian schools in Estonia, where you can get education partially in Russian. The number of subjects taught in such schools in Russian does not exceed 60 percent.