An interesting piece on the state of affairs in the Baltic states, a decade or so after breaking away from the USSR:

The government in Moscow is therefore running a large risk. If it stays cold towards the Balts, it may find that Kaliningrad, though still formally part of Russia, is in fact developing closer links with the rest of Europe than those it has with its old motherland.

The remaining 700,000-odd people are, in effect, stateless. They lost citizenship of the Soviet Union when it collapsed, but either from apathy or out of principle have not tried to become either Russians or citizens of their new countries. They and the citizens of Russia are barred from some occupations, and cannot vote in national elections.

Some of the Baltic Russians call themselves Yevrorussky, Euro-Russians. If only Russia itself would think along those lines a bit more.

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