Russia’s weaponization of passports: a case study of Estonia

• In Event: Echoes of Empire: Authoritarianism and Conflicts in Russia and Beyond

Abstract

Russian citizenship, a tool of Russia’s hard and soft power for decades, has become increasingly weaponized since 2022—with significant consequences for many people inside and outside of Russia. My paper focuses on one specific affected group and explores what it means to have a Russian passport in Estonia today. The invasion of Ukraine brought a new “rupture” (Polynin 2023) for the 90,000 Estonians who are Russian citizens. It amplified debates about their loyalty to the Estonian state, and about their right to vote in local elections. Some have sought to naturalize in Estonia, but Russia is restricting their ability to renounce their Russian passport—a mandatory step since Estonia does not allow dual citizenship. Many Russian speakers in Estonia also see the naturalization process in Estonia as discriminatory; it requires passing an advanced language test and an exam about the country’s constitution and citizenship laws (Renvik et al. 2020).

Given the sensitivity of this topic, I eschewed interviews and focus groups. Instead, the analysis relies on content analysis of selected media sources in Estonia, both in Estonian and Russian language, before and after the start of the war. Beyond salience and connotation, the content analysis will focus on identifying themes most often associated with questions of Russian citizenship. Data will be complemented with expert interviews conducted during fieldwork in Estonia during the spring semester 2025, and, if time allows, with a comparison of coverage in two Russian media outlets popular among Estonian Russian speakers.

Author

• Vanessa Ruget, Salem State University