But the issue is not simply one of political sovereignty. It has become a question of the right of a people to ethnic and cultural identity. For 50 years. the Soviet Union has made a concerted effort to destroy the Estonian nation by the systematic diffusion of its population. It has been estimated that 140.000 Estonians were deported from 1940 to 1954. Since then. the Soviet Government has conducted a massive settlement of Russians in Estonia and a corresponding dispersal of Estonians over the hinterlands of the U.S.S.R. Stalinist terror tactics have beeh replaced by the application of administrative and economic pressure. but the policy remains methodically effective.
Keywords matched
deported