Russian speaking people in Latvia/Estonia
Hello,
I just got back from a trip to the Baltics (Latvia, Estonia, and Finland). First of all, your countries are beautiful. Tallinn especially is a place I’d definitely come back to great architecture, solid infrastructure, and surprisingly good food (I expected worse :D). But one thing really stood out to me. Walking around Tallinn, I heard way more Russian than Estonian. A lot of restaurants, shops, and bars seemed to be run by Russian-speaking people (or maybe Ukrainians). What surprised me the most was that many young people seemed to speak only Russian. Do they not speak Estonian at all, or do they just not want to?
I’m from Slovenia, and we also have a large Serbian community. Younger generations there mostly speak Slovenian, even if the older ones don’t as well. But in Tallinn, the difference felt much bigger.
So what’s the situation like between Estonians and Russians there? Why does it seem like so many Russian speakers don’t integrate?