Estonians Mart Niklus and Juri Kukk. for example. were recently sentenced to prison terms for their activism in promoting human rights and autonomy for the Baltic region. They also. along with several other Estonians. condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in an open letter to Leonid Brezhnev. and urged the International Olympic Committee and several national Olympic committees to boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. One of the greatest threats to Estonian freedom and identity. however. lies in the steady progress of cultural assimilation. or "russification." The years since World War II have brought a steady flow of Russian immigrants into Estonia. Attracted by Estonias high standard of living and the labor shortage created by the massive deportations and killings of the postwar era. Russians now comprise over onethird of Estonias population. Nevertheless. the Estonians continue to cling to their native language and their cultural heritage in admirable defiance.
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deportations immigrants