“Russians, I don’t know why, cannot value freedom”

Liubov Laur, who has lived in Tapa for a quarter of a century, has worked at the local special school as a librarian, activities coordinator and teacher-caregiver, and has led the Ukrainian cultural society Orpheus. How does the 68-year-old woman see the Russian-Ukrainian war and, more broadly, the situation of Ukrainians in Estonia?

When Estonia’s minorities are discussed, the Russian minority usually comes up. But tens of thousands of Ukrainians also live in Estonia. In light of the Russian-Ukrainian war, their situation is naturally in the spotlight.

Most Ukrainians living in Estonia came here during the Soviet era. You first set foot on the platform of Tapa railway station in 1996. What brought you here?

Five years before that, in 1991, I boarded the Riga–Simferopol train in Chernihiv. I had big suitcases but nowhere to sit. Then a young man said: “Madam, if you give me five dollars and a kiss, I’ll take you into my compartment.”

I replied that I had no dollars, but a kiss was no problem. I introduced myself. The young man said: “My name is Allan Laur and I’m from Estonia.” That is how I met my future husband. That’s fate.

We married in 1994. Two years later I moved to Estonia. We got a place to live through the pastor of the Tapa Methodist Church.

For years you worked as a librarian at the Tapa special school. Was that chance or a conscious choice?

I graduated from an institute in Kyiv in library science. Then I worked for 20 years at the Cherkasy regional library. In Tapa, to my great joy, I immediately found work in my field. At the special school I have also worked as activities coordinator and teacher-caregiver.

About 300 Ukrainians live in Tapa Parish. Why was their cultural society named MTÜ Orpheus?

We had such an association in Ukraine. We thought about what to call an organisation in Tapa that Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians would come to, and that would deal with music, journalism, art and science. The name Orpheus seemed to fit.

You lead Orpheus. What events does Orpheus organise?

We organised a great many events until 2014. Estonian artists such as Anne Veski, Jüri Aarma and Jüri Homenja came to Tapa to meet people.

Mart Kroon, who sings in the Estonian National Male Choir, invited his friends to Orpheus evenings. Ordinary people here could listen to classical music.

We started organising festivals such as “Seven Brave Tenors”. Indrek Jurtšenko helped me.

To bring together Estonian-, Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking children, we started the festival “Better Together”. We invited choirs from Narva, Tallinn, Lehtse and Tapa.

Estonia National Opera soloist Mati Palm and his Ukrainian student also came to perform here.

You said Orpheus was active until 2014. What happened then?

The Maidan revolution took place in Ukraine. After that, Russian-speaking people no longer want to hear anything about Ukraine. I don’t know what to say to them. It is hard for me to perform in front of them.

So after the Maidan revolution, relations between Russians and Ukrainians in Tapa also turned bad.

Yes. It’s a pity. A barrier appeared that makes it hard to organise cultural evenings.

How has Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which began on 24 February, affected the lives of Ukrainians in the parish?

That is also a problem. Local Ukrainians who came here back in Soviet times think in a Soviet way. There is pain in their hearts, but they cannot condemn the aggression. They just stay silent. They don’t want it talked about.

Ukrainians who came here later think differently.

In your view, was it right for the Estonian state to send Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, or should support have been shown in some other way?

Estonia is helping Ukrainians so much. How can we say thank you to the Estonian state and people for their support?

We understand what is happening. We fear Putin will start destroying Ukraine. But what to do, I don’t know.

How many Ukrainian refugees do you think the Estonian state could take in?

There are already 8,000 Ukrainian refugees in Estonia. Perhaps another 2,000 could be taken in?

How many of these refugees could Tapa Parish accommodate?

Only people who have relatives or acquaintances here are coming to us from Ukraine.

I know one family that has come to Tapa Parish. An Estonian woman who works at Tapa Gümnaasium is housing them in her apartment. The Tapa parish mayor asked me how to help. I told him that food and clothes are not needed, but a roof over their heads is.

What kind of help do Ukrainians need most in the current situation?

Ukrainian refugees have come here with small children. How should their education be organised? Perhaps the children could use the internet to keep in touch with their teachers.

In Tallinn they are discussing whether to find separate rooms for Ukrainian children where specialists would teach them in Ukrainian. But at the same time they should also learn a little Estonian – a little through play, a little through music.

I don’t know how many will stay here or for how long. Perhaps for several months, perhaps for a year. We’ll see what happens in Ukraine. The mothers, grandmothers and aunts who came to Estonia with children want to go back.

Should the Estonian state also organise jobs for adult refugees, or is finding work everyone’s own business?

That has already been organised. There are special phone lines that give information on where to find work. Finding a job is not a problem. Whoever wants to find one will.

How long do you think the Russian-Ukrainian war will last?

Hard to say. It is not only Ukraine’s war; it also depends on how the United States and other NATO countries reach an agreement with Putin, that madman.

But the war has united the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian people have never been so strong.

If you could meet Vladimir Putin face to face, what would you say to him?

Mr Putin, you have children too. Think about what they would feel if their house were bombed. We are not fascists. We are just people who want to live our lives. Think about it. We want to live in peace. We don’t want to be at war.

Now let’s take the subject of friendship between peoples. Is it a beautiful fairy tale, or is it possible under certain conditions?

(Long silence.) In the nineties times were economically hard, but Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were free. People moved freely and communicated freely. We have a lot in common. We can be friends.

But then Putin came to power. He doesn’t want us simply to be similar and free countries. He wants the empire back.

And Russian people, I don’t know why, cannot value freedom. They listen to their tsar and believe him. They don’t want to be free. That separates them from Ukrainians.

But I hope the Russian people will get a leader who gives everyone freedom. Then we can be friends again and reach agreement.

Liubov Laur. Interview with the newspaper KUULUTAJA.