Baltic States and Russia - Commentary on the Countries Visited

Baltic States and Russia - Commentary on the Countries Visited

Many informed Americans tend to lump the small Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia together as a unit in the northern Baltic.  The three countries indeed share some historical background, but they are, in fact, quite distinct.  Their origins are from pagan Baltic tribes. They were late converts to Christianity and a “northern crusade” was waged against them by European Christians.  The Lithuanian and Latvian languages have Indo-European roots, whilst the Estonian language has Finnic-Uralic roots. 

Lithuania is the most southern, and most populous of the three countries with about 2.9 million people, including 5% Russians who are Lithuanian citizens.  It is still over 70% Roman Catholic, the heritage of its long affiliation with very catholic Poland.  Few know that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the largest and most populous nation in Europe for over 200 years (1569-1795).  Take note that this nearly as long as our own U.S. has been an independent nation. 

Historically, there has been strong German influence in the area from early control by the Teutonic Knights, membership in the Hanseatic League and proximity/overlap with East Prussia.  Past Russian influence has also been strong beginning with the partition of Poland/Lithuania in 1772-95, and later continuing with incorporation into the Soviet Union after a brief period of independence in the early 20^th century.  Like its neighbors Latvia and Estonia, Lithuania has been independent since the early 1990’s, is a member of the European Union and NATO and uses the euro as its currency.  All three Baltic States are bordered by Russia and Belarus, and are fearful of re-absorption by Russia, particularly in view of Putin’s recent actions in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, the relative military weakness of Europe in NATO and recent U.S. posturing concerning the efficacy of NATO.

Latvia shares some history with Lithuania vis-à-vis past German and Russian influence. Latvia’s population is about 2 million, with over 300,000, mostly Russians and Belorussian non-citizens living in the country.  Latvia was part of the Livonian Order, and offshoot of the Teutonic Knights, which was protestant and not allied with catholic Poland like Lithuania.  Riga was a major Baltic port and figured prominently in the Hanseatic League.

Estonia has a Danish and Swedish background, and although it shares some history with the other Baltic States, particularly as regards Russia, Estonia is even now more Scandinavian than the other two Baltic states.  The population of Estonia is about 1.3 million.  Citizenship is offered to all Russian and other foreign nationals who pass a proper test and pledge fealty to Estonia.

A note on energy in the Baltics.  Lithuania had a nuclear power plant similar to Chernobyl, which they spent millions of dollars to make safe, but which they had to de-commission to be admitted into the European Union. (Primarily at the insistence of Germany). So they went from cheap power from nuclear energy to expensive power from natural gas energy from Russia.  Currently they get some LNG supplies from Norway and Sweden, and even some from the U.S., to mitigate Russia’s monopolistic practices.

Health care in Estonia and the other Baltic States is “free”.  University education (at state universities) is “free”.  Three months maternity (and/or paternity) leave is provided.  Many other social amenities are provided by the government, i.e. cradle to grave care for everyone.  In return, tax rates are about 70% of income (55% direct income withholding, and 15% value added tax on virtually everything purchased).  A typical average professional salary is about 3000 euros per month.  Tax is 2100 euros and net take home is 900 euros per month.  The system works fine if everyone, (or nearly everyone) works and contributes to the system.  Where it starts to break down is non-workers and non-contributors hitting the system, which is happening more and more with non-productive migrants from the Middle East.

Tomes have been written about Russia and where it now sits in our geo-political spectrum.  Many Americans still view Russia as a dark and evil communist empire.  In truth the Russian Federation obtained its independence from the old Soviet Union in the early 1990’s, just like many other former Soviet republics. It has retained its military and nuclear capabilities and hence is a major world power, but nowhere near as powerful as what the USSR once was.

Russia currently is a “semi presidential federation”, which means a president is popularly elected and exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature. It differs from a parliamentary republic in that it has a popularly elected head of state, who is more than a purely ceremonial figurehead. Modern France is another example of a semi presidential system. Vladimir Putin is the directly elected President or Chief of State of Russia since 2012. He is a member of the United Russia party, which he started, with 63.6% of the vote.  Dmitry Medvedev, also a member of the United Russia party, is Prime Minister or head of government with a Duma vote of 299 to 144.

Americans look upon Putin as a dictator, but although he has polished popular powers while in office, he is a duly elected president.  The Russian people love him and feel that he has become a great international mediator in Syria, Ukraine and other areas. He has an 83% approval rating among the Russian people.

In a university lecture to our group, a Russian political analyst insisted that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. elections to any extent.  He basically said what the Trump government has been saying all along – that Russia may have hacked some poorly protected servers, but Russia did not affect the outcome of the U.S. elections.

Travelling in Russia and visiting St Petersburg and Moscow leaves one with the impression that other than the Cyrillic script, one could as well be in Berlin or Paris or London.  Exceptional is the unequalled beauty of St Petersburg, which is unique unto itself.  The people in Western Russia are friendly and helpful, and fashion conscious.  Technology is modern, with many ads and LED signs.  WIFI is fast and many times “free”, although a VPN is a personal recommendation  During our impromptu visit to an average Russian family, topics were sports (European style), family, earning a living, etc.  They mentioned that they would like to visit the U.S. but currently cannot because of our economic sanctions against Russia.  Competition is evident with many different brand gasoline stations and other commodities.  Cars of all makes fill the streets and roads, and are largely assembled under license from Toyota, Nissan, Skoda, Citroen, Ford, Chevy et al, in Russia. 

Russian TV and news media is diverse, with comedies, soap operas, news broadcasts and many ads and commercials.

Russia, and also the Baltic States are suffering from a “brain drain”. Educational standards are high and so is cost of living. Young people are well educated and multi-lingual. Incomes are low relative to the rest of Europe, so there is serious emigration to Germany and other EU countries..

All in all, Western Russia is very European in nature, and as mentioned above, I could have just as easily been in Germany or France or Poland or Spain save for the difference in alphabets.

Ray Gruszecki

September 19, 2017