Issue 3/2021: Tales from the Baltics

This issue takes us to the Baltics in search of stories from today – 30 years after the fall of the Soviet Union. In many ways the processes now taking place there largely reflect those of Western European societies, which shows how integrated the Baltics are with the EU and Euro-Atlantic structures. Like elsewhere across Europe, pockets of populist politics have found a place. Meanwhile, the pandemic has forced Baltic policymakers to find ways at keeping the coronavirus at bay and the political cost of inaction. Socially and economically, issues like inequality and minority rights remain high on the agenda of civil society.

At the same time there are specifics that play a role in these countries – including history, the Soviet legacy and the threat of the Kremlin’s approach to the post-Soviet space. The former foreign minister of Lithuania, Linas Linkevičius, in an exclusive interview with NEE, expresses these quite clearly, and argues how the Baltic states can and should play a key role in supporting Ukraine’s Europeanisation or the Belarusians’ fight for freedom. Beyond the Baltics, we also look at the situation in Russia after the arrest of Alexei Navalny earlier this year. Our authors also take us through new developments in Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia and Georgia.

Table of Contents

Tales from the Baltics 

We are still searching for our strategy with Russia
An interview with Linas Linkevičius

The Baltic states. Three peas in a pod?
Andres Kasekamp

The Baltic phoenix
Grzegorz Szymborski

Russians in Estonia. We are not “them”, we are “us”
Kristina Kallas

Photo story. Pandemic in the Baltics
Paul Pärn, Solveiga Kaļva and Jakob Wöllenstein

Latvia prepares for big step in LGBTQ+ rights
Ričards Umbraško

How far right politics derailed Estonian higher education success
Anastasiia Starchenko

Opinion and Analysis

Russia’s police state showed its real face in latest protest crackdown
Giovanni Pigni

Everyone understands what is happening
Victoria Odissonova

Zelenskyy takes on Russia’s information warfare campaign against Ukraine
Taras Kuzio

Joe Biden needs Eastern Europe as a success story
Vladyslav Faraponov

Georgia’s household debt crisis deepens in the wake of COVID-19
Mackenzie Baldinger

What is really behind Ivanishvili’s decision to quit politics
Soso Dzamukashvili

Farewell, nation!
Anton Saifullayeu

Interviews

This conflict was always on the edge of Europe
An interview with Thomas de Waal

Navalny is a symbol of the opposition, not its leader
An interview with Boris Vishnevsky

Stories and Ideas

Remembering Mark Verlan. The artist who bridged poetry and apocalyptic jest
Giovanna Di Mauro

Preserving Soviet-era mosaics in Georgia 
A conversation with Nini Palavandishvili

Art, Culture and Society 

Who is afraid of the letter Ł? Łacinka and the Belarusian dictator
Tomasz Kamusella

Not all that glitters is gold
Dylan van de Ven

Redeeming Europe
Jacek Hajduk

Eastern Cafe 

A book judged by its cover
Maxim Rust

Living with the beast
Maciej Makulski

A sort of magic realism
Kateryna Pryshchepa

The thieves in law
Lasha Bregvaladze