One common stereotype elsewhere in Estonia is that Ida-Viru County is an entirely Russian-speaking region, although in reality, more Estonians live here than the total populations of many Estonian counties. Integration projects, too, are mostly aimed at Russians living in Ida-Viru County. Far less attention is paid to the Estonians who live here and make up just one-fifth of the population, making them a minority in this part of Estonia.

Yet it is precisely Ida-Viru County's Estonians who have preserved the Estonian language, identity and culture in northeastern Estonia for decades. Thanks to them, it has also been possible to integrate local Russians into Estonian society. When an NGO based elsewhere comes up with a good idea for organizing something in Ida-Viru County, it is undoubtedly a commendable initiative that enriches local life. But such one-off efforts cannot replace the everyday, continuous presence of an Estonian-speaking environment maintained by local Estonians.

If Estonians did not shop at local stores or Estonian children did not attend local schools, Russian-speaking residents would have fewer opportunities to practice Estonian. There would be fewer Estonian cultural events and Estonian-language media outlets and less discussion of current affairs in Estonia at workplaces and elsewhere.

The vigilant local Estonian community has also sounded the alarm when authorities in certain towns have attempted, for populist or other self-serving reasons, to appoint as heads of municipal schools or cultural centers people whose commitment to Estonia has been called into question.

Ida-Viru County's Estonians are close-knit and probably somewhat more fiercely loyal to their home region than people elsewhere, because life as a minority in a predominantly non-Estonian-speaking environment would otherwise be more difficult. This has also been evident in recent weeks on TV3's Sunday show "Laululahing," where Tanja and the Voka Vokaal choir, representing Jõhvi, have consistently received strong support from viewers calling in to vote. People in Ida-Viru County care more about supporting their own than residents of Tallinn, Tartu or other parts of Estonia, for example.

Another important point is that, by living alongside local Russians day in and day out, Ida-Viru County's Estonians are better able to understand them than people who rarely interact with Russians. This certainly does not mean that they share all of each other's views or that their ways of thinking have merged. But in a sense, local Estonians serve as ambassadors of Estonia to their Russian neighbors who rarely encounter Estonians from elsewhere in the country. At the same time, these everyday interactions allow them to see firsthand that Estonians are perfectly normal people, contrary to the image Kremlin propaganda attempts to portray on television and social media. Direct personal experience generally carries more weight.

This likely also plays a role in the fact that, as Põhjarannik reported last week, a couple of thousand Russians living in Ida-Viru County have voluntarily changed their ethnicity to Estonian in the population register in recent years. There are several reasons for this, but what is encouraging is that it is primarily younger people who are doing so — people who have developed a stronger emotional connection to Estonia and genuinely identify as Estonians.

Although Estonians are a minority in Ida-Viru County, it is worth reiterating that, given the county's size, nearly 27,000 of them still live here. That is more than the total population of five Estonian counties: Lääne County, Põlva County, Jõgeva County, Valga County and Hiiu County.

Estonia's political parties would also do well to keep this in mind. They have often failed to take the Ida-Viru County electoral district seriously in Riigikogu elections, regarding it as a stronghold where their political views have little chance of gaining traction. And they certainly will not succeed if they do not invest time and effort in the region. But if every party talks about how important Ida-Viru County is to Estonia, then they should also field strong candidates here in elections and thoroughly explain their positions and plans.

It is also time to deliver on two promises made to Ida-Viru County voters ahead of at least the last three Riigikogu elections, promises whose continued failure to materialize has become something of a dark joke. These are channeling environmental fees collected in Ida-Viru County back into the county's development and building a four-lane highway between Jõhvi and Narva.

There has also been talk for decades about the need to relocate more government agencies to Ida-Viru County. But when it comes to actual results, even die-hard optimists can, at best, describe the glass as half full.

So, in short, here is the recipe for political parties seeking electoral success in Ida-Viru County and hoping to strengthen Estonian identity in the region: Deliver on the two major promises made in the past and actually bring more government agencies here.

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