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Medvedev Signs Law Discriminating Against Indigenous Estonian Minorities
Medvedev Signs Law Discriminating Against Indigenous Estonian Minorities
Setos celebrating a village reunion
( Photo: Postimees/Scanpix )
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed an ordinance on January 9 forbidding foreign nationals and those lacking citizenship of any kind from owning land in regions along the country's international borders, reported setomaa.ee.
The law names 380 border territories, and impacts the Setos and Estonian citizens living in the bordering Pechorsky District of Russia's Pskov Oblast. Indigenous to the region, Setos are an ethnic and linguistic minority, with a language similar to Estonian, but sharing aspects of Russian culture, such as Orthodox Christianity, and numerous Slavic traditions.
Between 1920 and 1940, the region was part of the Republic of Estonia. After 1991, thousands born in Pechorsky, whose childhood homes were built on Estonian territory, remained in Russia.
Estonian and Russian political relations have yet to normalize, as the most recent border treaty was signed in 1920. Russia took back its signature from the new border treaty after its ratification by Estonian Parliament in 2005.
The Seto people's leading cultural representative, Ahto Raudoja, condemned the new Russian law, and called for the Estonian government to respond. "Everyone who is born there and whose roots are in the district, should have the right to own land there,“ said Raudoja. "If Estonia wants to act as a country that stands for the rights of those who are Estonian citizens by birth, then it should respond like a real country.“
Russian Ambassador to Estonia Juri Merzljakov has been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give a more detailed overview of the new regulation.
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Originally Posted by Riippumatto
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