The OSCE's role in conflict prevention: The case of Estonia

Timo Lahelma

' ... I believe that we can draw on the extensive work of the CSCE Mission to Estonia which has done an excellent job in clarifying the issues at hand to the world community'.

Lennart Meri, President of the Republic of Estonia in his address to the diplomatic corps in Kadriorg on 17 May 1994.

In the summer of 1993 I was asked by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs to succeed Ambassador Klaus Tornudd as Head of the OSCEMission to Estonia. I took up my functions on 16 August 1993 and left Estonia on 28 February 1995. I was fortunate to have the possibility to observe at close range for more than a year and a half the astonishingly speedy recovery of Estonia from the vestiges of the fifty years of foreign occupation. I found Estonia not to be a society in deep crisis; but rather a peaceful country working hard to reintegrate into the Western community of states.

A brief sketch of the political and demographic background The Republic of Estonia regained its full sovereignty in August 1991. The following year Estonia was one of the new participating states in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe taking part in the Helsinki Summit of July 1992. The newly independent Estonia was, of course, confronted with enormous political, economic and social problems. At the same time, many states were willing to provide practical assistance to Estonia in various ways. This was the beginning of the intensive reorganisation of Estonian society.

Withdrawal of the Russian troops from Estonia From the very beginning the relations between Estonia and Russia became a matter of concern for the OSCE in particular as regards the question of 'early, orderly and complete withdrawal of foreign troops from the territories of the Baltic States' referred to in the Helsinki OSCE Summit Declaration. In August 1991, when the Baltic states regained independence, Russia did not immediately withdraw its troops from the newly independent states. In Estonia, Russia retained a considerable number of forces, with units scattered all over the country in several garrisons, including the Paldiski naval base in the Gulf of Finland. On 26 July 1994 after protracted negotiations Estonia and Russia were finally able to 20 conclude agreements on the withdrawal of Russian troops and on persons receiving Russian military pensions in Estonia. On 30 July the two states agreed on a timetable for dismantling the Paldiski military nuclear training centre. The last Russian troops left Estonia in accordance with the agreement on 31 August 1994. Implementation of the agreement concerning the persons in receipt of military pensions has subsequently caused a number of problems. I will briefly discuss the OSCE involvement in the process of granting residence permits to retired Russian military personnel later on.

Status of the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty Another issue that has greatly overshadowed Estonian-Russian relations is the status of the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty. This treaty is considered by Estonia to be the key component of the confirmation of Estonia's statehood and legal continuity - 'the birth-certificate of Estonia', as it is sometimes described. Most Western states have also acknowledged the continuity between the Republic of Estonia and the state established after the First World War. The view of the Russian Federation, on the contrary, is that the Tartu Peace Treaty lost its validity in 1940 when Estonia voluntarily made the decision to join the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Accordingly, there is no continuity concerning pre-war Estonia and the present-day republic, which was only bom in 1991 as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Presently, Estonia and Russia are engaged in negotiations concerning the border line where the status of the Tartu Peace Treaty plays an important part.

The russophone population Among the challenges facing the Estonian Government is the presence of close to half a million persons predominantly of Russian ethnic origin out of a total population of 1.6 million. It should be noted, however, that traditionally Estonia is already a multi ethnic-ethnic society. In pre-war Estonia the share of e.g. ethnic Russians was approximately 10% of the population. The ethnic composition of the country was, however, profoundly affected by massive movements of people during the Soviet period. The effects of this demographic change are evident particularly in north-eastern Estonia, where Narva and Sillamae have become almost entirely Russian towns. In the capital, Tallinn, ethnic Russians represent a separate, distinct community, forming almost half of the town's population of 500,000. Besides Russians, the Soviet influx also brought a considerable number of people from Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, and other nationalities into the country. The russophones who have lived all their lives in Estonia often do not have close links with Russia or other states that have appeared on the territory of the former Soviet Union. With the re-emergence of Estonia's independence, they found themselves suddenly living in a small republic, regarded as an alien