NEWS
August 14, 1989 | MASHA HAMILTON, Times Staff Writer
Galina Rybanskaya, an ethnic Russian, has lived comfortably for 28 years in the Baltic republic of Estonia, but now she is troubled as never before by what she delicately calls "elements of discrimination." Sasha Kopytina, also Russian, married an Estonian and moved to the republic just a year ago. "I had planned to stay here all my life, but now I don't know. My rights are being restricted," she said.
NEWS
August 10, 1989 | MASHA HAMILTON, Times Staff Writer
The Russian minority in the Baltic republic of Estonia went on the offensive Wednesday with scattered strikes at factories and shipyards, protesting efforts by Estonian activists to sever the republic politically and economically from Moscow. The action demonstrated the growing anger of the Russians, who have held the reins of power in the Soviet Union ever since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution but who have been criticized by many of the country's more than 100 ethnic minorities.
NEWS
August 15, 1989 | From Associated Press
Estonia's Communist Party chief called Monday for ethnic Russian workers in his republic to end a six-day strike and negotiate differences. Unrest flared in the southern republic of Azerbaijan, meanwhile, with thousands of people holding a rally and saying they would concentrate their strike on key industries. Strike leaders in Estonia's capital of Tallinn said at least 20,000 Russian workers stayed off the job to protest a new law that tightens residency requirements for voters and candidates.
NEWS
September 6, 1991 | ELIZABETH SHOGREN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Bankers, business people and economists in the three Baltic republics were caught off guard when the collapse of last month's Kremlin putsch sent their countries surging toward independence. "Who could have predicted that it would happen so quickly?" Elmar Matt, director of the Bank of Estonia, the republic's central bank, said in an interview Wednesday. "Our prognosis was that we would be completely free by 1995."