![baltic states axis history forum baltic states axis history forum](https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/proxy.php?image=http:%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F6%2F67%2FBaltic_states_borders.jpg)
They are provided with a specific violet passport, marked with the word “ nepilsoņi”, that in Latvian language means “non-citizens”. On the one hand they gain recognition of their social rights and on the other hand they do not enjoy several political and civil rights. The Russians, or Russian speakers, “non-citizens” are considered as permanent residents in Estonia and Latvia. For example, the Latvian legislation clearly recognizes the difference between the “non-citizens” and the “stateless” living in the territory of the State. A stateless is a person who has never benefitted of any rights from the State and that has had no duties or obligations with the State. According to some jurists it differs from the general condition of “stateless”, which in most of the cases is characterized by an early deficit. After twenty years the non-citizens’ situation remains very peculiar. The knowledge of those languages, that replaced Russian as the national idioms of the new independent Baltic States (that during the Soviet period, as anybody knows, was the lingua franca of all the Soviet Union, and was understood in every Republic of the Union) were considered a fundamental condition to obtain the new citizenship and passport. This happened because they spoke neither Latvian nor Estonian. After the fall of the Soviet Union those people became nor Russian citizens, nor Latvians, nor Estonians, but “non-citizens” ( negraždane, in Russian language). These people of Russian origin, often being second and third generation immigrants, were living in the Baltic Sea Region from the beginning of the massive Russian settlement in the area that began in 1940.
![baltic states axis history forum baltic states axis history forum](https://media.springernature.com/lw785/springer-static/image/chp%3A10.1007%2F978-3-319-27006-7_1/MediaObjects/385681_1_En_1_Fig1_HTML.gif)
The same process did not involve the Russians that inhabited the Baltic States. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, those sharing Russian origins and language, who inhabited the territory of the present Russian Federation, became automatically citizens of the new State, obtaining the Russian passport. I refer to those ethnic minorities of Russian speakers, not necessarily belonging to the Russian ethnic group – in fact they include people of Belorussian and Ukrainian origins- which live in a very peculiar juridical situation, that represents an unicum in the international arena. I want to deal with the case of the so called “non-citizens” in two European Baltic States: Estonia and Latvia. With this speech I would like to draw the attention of the public on a matter that is very close to us, as Italians and Europeans, although less known among the majority of the people and often wrongly covered with exoticism.