DISINFO: The influx of Ukrainians threatens Estonia
SUMMARY
If the massive flow of Ukrainians going to Estonia to work there continues, a choice has to be made: either continue the ideological support for the children of Maidan or preserve the Estonian mother-tongue for centuries to come.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine and its people. The claim that Ukrainians are a threat to Estonia is consistent with previous pro-Kremlin disinformation: in 2018 the news broadcast Vremia on Channel One described a massive Ukrainian labour force, which has been aggressively pushing themselves into Estonia and has led locals to go abroad enable to find work. In reality the unemployment rate in Estonia is 5.1 %. Before that, a false claim about Ukrainians being terrorists was circulated: Ukrainians working in Estonia are no different from terrorists. Ukrainians may endanger the people of Estonia, as they have experiences of armed conflicts in their own country. After the Russians, the Ukrainian community is the second-biggest ethnic minority in Estonia. There are more than 22,000 Ukrainians living and working there, making up approximately 1.7% of the Estonian population. While the pro-Kremlin narrative portrayes them like some sort of threat, in reality that's not the case. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 15,524 short-term employment and temporary residence permits were granted to Ukrainian citizens temporarily staying in Estonia, with or without a visa, in 2018, and 2,565 were granted residence permits.