Two Border Cities Share Russian History — and a Sharp European Divide
- 6 years ago
Two Border Cities Share Russian History — and a Sharp European Divide
Viktor Karpenko, Ivangorod’s mayor and a former officer in the Federal Security Service, or the F.S.B., Russia’s domestic security service, said the difference was because of the difficult terrain
and legal restrictions on the Russian side of the river — not corruption.
Leonid Pelesev, an ethnic Russian who coaches Narva schoolchildren in chess, said
that many of his fellow Russian-speakers in the Estonian town watch Russian state television and support, on an emotional level, the muscular nationalism promoted by Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.
Even stalwart Russian patriots in Narva concede that, despite their support for Mr. Putin and their anger at Estonian citizenship rules
that they say discriminate against Russian speakers, they have no desire to move over the river to Ivangorod.
"Russians here do not want to go back to the motherland." Some people are moving across the border to set up new homes,
but they are mostly citizens of Russia buying property in Estonia either as an investment or as a way to get access to Narva’s better health care and the security offered by the European Union, of which Estonia is a member.
"It is not really even a town over there — just a road or two," scoffed Vladimir Petrov, the leader
of the Union of Russian Citizens, a group that lobbies on behalf of Russians living in Narva.
9, 2017
IVANGOROD, Russia — Little divides the Russian town of Ivangorod and its Estonian twin, Narva, but a fairly narrow river.
Viktor Karpenko, Ivangorod’s mayor and a former officer in the Federal Security Service, or the F.S.B., Russia’s domestic security service, said the difference was because of the difficult terrain
and legal restrictions on the Russian side of the river — not corruption.
Leonid Pelesev, an ethnic Russian who coaches Narva schoolchildren in chess, said
that many of his fellow Russian-speakers in the Estonian town watch Russian state television and support, on an emotional level, the muscular nationalism promoted by Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.
Even stalwart Russian patriots in Narva concede that, despite their support for Mr. Putin and their anger at Estonian citizenship rules
that they say discriminate against Russian speakers, they have no desire to move over the river to Ivangorod.
"Russians here do not want to go back to the motherland." Some people are moving across the border to set up new homes,
but they are mostly citizens of Russia buying property in Estonia either as an investment or as a way to get access to Narva’s better health care and the security offered by the European Union, of which Estonia is a member.
"It is not really even a town over there — just a road or two," scoffed Vladimir Petrov, the leader
of the Union of Russian Citizens, a group that lobbies on behalf of Russians living in Narva.
9, 2017
IVANGOROD, Russia — Little divides the Russian town of Ivangorod and its Estonian twin, Narva, but a fairly narrow river.