at home to hungry and the baltic states a marion evans standing, i'll be back at the top of the hour with more headlines for you. if you join us then with a vibrant habitat ended glistening plates of long. the mediterranean sea sina almost far and to far abdul karim drift along with exploring the modern lifestyles and added to rain. that you truly journey this week. on d. w ah! a along the eastern shores of the baltic sea lithuania, latvia, and estonia, the baltic states in

awe. for half a century they belong to the soviet union. a forced brotherhood with with the singing revolution of 1990. the bolts regained their independence. today they are russia's neighbors. but russia's war on ukraine has rekindled old beers. many here wonder, are we next? ah

ah . our journey through the baltics begins in the north east in the estonian city of nava, a border city where nato and the you meet russia. ah, less than 300 meters separate, the 13th century estonian fortress hammons festa from the russian fortress, yvonne garad no i li, i am on frank white office. marva is located where europe begins and is the most rash and speaking city. and while european union our population is 9 go 6 per cent ration speaking with only 4 per cent speak estonian hip with fitness

one of some 2000 estonians in nava. i got 3 right belongs to that 4 per cent. they do not, but she is also the city's mayor home to some 55000 people to day, nor ever has seen its share of upheaval, originally and estonian city. by the end of world war 2, it was deserted and almost completely destroyed. the red army had driven out the german van mocked and with it most of nervous inhabitants. soviet era buildings and apartment blocks make up most of the city to day. many who live in nava moved here during soviet times as well would i think would an ottoman like a born actually never was born in new in 1945 i it was the year one for nerve out of neu, mitchell. new people came at the beginning,

more from the border region than from the ural region. for neurology, lighter. one of our i nicholas and dana street, that fear narvie was a shiny industrial city vintage. the women were beautiful, dresses. see there was a lot of caviar and sausage cheese milk, milk. it was a nice life is what it wasn't important that it was a stony and it was just a town. it could have been anywhere. and then quite unexpectedly in august 1991, the state became independent. that was a shock than it is by choke in the soviet era nava and yvonne garad were twin cities the bridge that connects them is still called the bridge of friendship. but to day, the cities exist in 2 very different political systems. with a stony as independence in 1991, a guarded border went up since 2004, when a stoney at joined the european union,

it has also served as an external border for the e. u. a 2nd border crossing is reserved for pedestrians every day, commuters between the 2 cities and systems around half of novice, ethnically. russian residents are not estonian citizens. they have a rush and passports, or the so called grey passport, which identifies them as stateless, but allows them to walk easily without a visa, between russia and europe. mainly people who make the crossing to it to go shopping with miss mitchell with the lovable world once a month we go there to buy alcohol and cigarettes. you just now we were asked if we were carrying salt issue. i asked if that was forbidden the border. god said no. just that. now every one brings salt, salt and soda. slowly folding. nissan coolant by them. now i'm looking for a while. do you by there? she vodka, cigarettes, salt, sugar cakes,

chocolate confectionary. good. the cup is already waiting to deal with the little salt is practically sold out. in the supermarkets of norma, people are stocking up. who knows if bell ruth will stop exporting salt to estonia . in addition to worrying about empty store shelves, russian residents say they fear discrimination, mayor country reich has invited the public for a discussion with the minister of justice in the city hall. oh yes i estonia welcomes and cares for ukrainians who have fled the war for some russians and nava. this is a sore spot. they say it makes them feel like 2nd class citizens. what is putin's war doing to estonia?

isn't uniting or dividing people here as to what's the worst one with these days. we hear calls from various ministers, but also from the president warning against denigrating or suspecting the russian population in estonia. a medium there. but this is exactly what we're experiencing in the media. and at the same time, i see how the ukranian side is reported and refugees are taken care of. and for me, a completely justified question arises, what has the estonian state done in all these years? with regard to the russians who were born here and live here with us. you said yes i am, i am. i don't know if there is any one here among us who has experienced the 2nd world war. no, got them. i experienced it for me,

the war began when i was 9 years old. i was with my grandmother, particularly. she said to me, girl, run him quickly. the war has begun for them. children have to be with their parents now. and i ran 3 kilometers to my parents house. why am i telling us? yes, it does. the war is a terrible thing. and for us now, there is only one thing to do to prevent a blood bath in ukraine, where you go crazy lou for the russian president vladimir putin. the dissolution of the ussr was the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. and according to russian state television, today's neighbouring baltic countries represent

a fascist threat. v. as in mich, click on ale, we are a member of the east end of nieto. article 5 is our protection. our future are guaranteed if it died our freedom it at so called windows at a guarantee it was that i for i hiked the base of the estonian defense league or kite sell it in norfolk members of estonia as volunteer army are returning from training once or twice a month, they give up their free time for their homeland. the estonian defense league was founded in 1918 when a stony 1st gained its independence. the kite so it was banned during the soviet period, then re emerged in 1990. in 2015,

alexander, moist, a young co joined the group. he is russian born in norfolk but there's the dual results were more he's local. we're bureaus of all of our pros from europe will. joining was my reaction to the annexation of crimea. the 1st thing my acquaintances asked me was whether this meant that i would be ready to shoot at russians, ordered the last many of my friends because i suggest, oh god, what do they consider me a traitor to the russian people you are to look for. but let me put it this way that the earth, someone comes here with weapons in his hands, no matter who he is and he is an enemy. it doesn't matter what language she speaks . criminals have no nationality. do you understand what marcy? we live here, and these are our borders calling you for the estonia. does not invade anyone to this. i was born here. this is my homeland or the half the defendant from you. closer policy limits. lu almost proposal schuler sir. blush threw up on the credit when ukraine was invaded on february 24th. i called my mother and said,

if the state of estonia wants me to go to ukraine to defend it, i will go. my mother is ukrainian, she is from odessa sooner. she said to me, were you craniums are now getting what they deserve. i was stunned and i can't talk to my parents about this issue anymore. and they will not understand me. they think dr. brewton is doing everything right. no more for them to. i'm a traitor group ever since i joined the kite cellar to muse roscoe, we'll go to buy a book about buford city alexander's parents were staunch communists. his father held to build the nuclear power plant in chernobyl. with the collapse of the soviet union. they like many russians and nava lost the country they had identified with now they live in europe. but what does that mean? a the government to yet got a lot of an issue with

the government could what happened in crimea, or don boss also happened to norma. could it be split by force from estonia? since the annexation of crimea and 2014 relations between estonians and russians, living in estonia have deteriorated. a certain level of tolerance had been painstakingly achieved. now it's given way to old cliches, long ago, evil russians and nationalist estonians from the kite. so it base alexander most a yankee goes straight to the cities theater, where he works as a stage hand coma. alexander is both russian and estonian at heart. but at $48.00,

he's too old for the young republic, too old for the estonian language, which he never learned. a stateless person with a gray passport. because if you don't speak estonian, you can't be an estonians citizen or hold public office. the urban with burglary is good, you to wish you was doing you. if the russian people who live here are really given the feeling that they are also at home here than russia will have no argument to protect their citizens in estonia than putin will not be able to mobilize people who are ready to provoke or support a russian invasion when your solution is where you grow william a double of 4 or more born, you sick? the hershey. i understand that estonia citizens suffered a lot from the soviet union's violence of it. but we all come from that time. we

all want to be in europe premium, the new sure, very similar values are. the only difference is, is that we talk about these values and different languages. but if i have to redeem myself in every conversation, for something i didn't do, it doesn't create a could dialogue in your job. if that goes on, then a line will always be there between new russians and we estonians rosky. this is not how it should be working, goes number. oh oh, i'm alive at diamond dagenham. our next destination is taught to in south eastern estonia. no, no, no. tar 2 is the oldest city in the baltics 1st mentioned in the year 1030. and the 2nd largest in estonia. for centuries it was under foreign rule. the german knights of

the order arrived in the 13th century, followed by ivan the terrible than the swedes. in 1941, the german van mocked occupied the city. in 1944, the red army took over and stayed for almost half a century. how do you rebuild the country after 50 years of imposed to tally tarion rule, estonia looked to its youth and digitization. since 2000, the estonian constitution has guaranteed its citizens access to the internet. free . why fi is ubiquitous here. has tonia is considered a digital pioneer in europe at the university of ta to the delta centers. modern building is an epicenter of digital progress students,

researchers, developers, and entrepreneurs work here under one roof. one person who was a student here, and tar 2 is now considered something of a national hero in estonia, at least by the younger generation. the programmer ot heinlein, developed the telephony software, skype in 2003. a pioneering act that still inspires many young estonians with since then, digitization has become an important economic driver. now, estonia is home to over $400.00 start up companies. among them who to class founded by kristen tom at 30 years old. he's always lived in an independent estonia. good luck, i'm. you know, when i'm a, you know, when i, when i'm with them for you, i can finish with the city. it when i've only ever known estonia as a free country,

and that's a piece of luck. my parents and grandparents didn't have obama on today. they told me how everything was nationalized back then. there was no free enterprise. oh gosh . i mean, i've seen things like that in some of the countries i've traveled to countries that are not democratic. all that are under the influence of russia you're, i'm about, you can see it in their gross national product. but also just on the streets. you can see how people are doing the difference between these countries in estonia today, it's light years that i with a lab on we've done our business take, wasn't than i do business with amazon. in estonia, internet access is standard in schools. first graders learn to program kristen tom and his team have developed a computer game for learning using virtual reality headsets

to they want to make lessons into an adventure political tonight and who to class is an educational game that we developed for chemistry and physics classes for 8th and 9th graders, south and that again, realty students learn about complicated topics using virtual reality laboratories and laboratory facilities at schools are expensive in this virtual lab. on the other hand, you can repeat an experiment a 100 times, try it again and again and learn from your mistakes, isn't about the war in ukraine is not virtual while it's all to real and that my mind with figures theoretical me. so is the question of what to do about it. no renewal on to move to here fail. immigration, the war has affected my life so much that yesterday i attended my 1st volunteer army informational session. i'm going to join the defense lake. we've got

a needed no lab which with her as the business good may be our international partners no longer trust us because we live close to the russian border. good luck on, but we belong to nato. everything is good here. i'm not worried about how company, man, what are the gland? i us, any sick? our car will to less if there was head to an odella. the see who had mimi? kristen. tom doesn't have to worry about finding new recruits for his company either. the software developers of the future are right next door. they study just across the courtyard in the delta center, they know not only even after their 1st semesters, students are hired by start up companies. and by the time they're 20 or 25, they're earning twice as much as their parents. he, they, they sca rebate and then away from tar to we travel further south along the russian

and bellow russian borders dug up is, is the 2nd largest city in lafayette. after riga, ringed in soviet times by machine building factories and a chemical plant. in the 1990s, many of these factories had to close. one of the most important employers to day is the locomotive repair works. founded in $1866.00 as a repair facility for the st. petersburg, warsaw, railroad line. the factory boomed under the soviets. they expanded, adding a house of culture, a pioneer camp, vacation homes, and a training center for the 4000 people who worked here with the collapse of the soviet union. the plant shrank. today. it only has $640.00 employees.

valerie, but on off worked for the railroad for deck. it's then 2 years ago his job was eliminated at the repair plant, he found new employment as a master craftsman whether we think of he is russian and a citizen of lafayette yevgeny. bog donna was born and raised in dog appeals. he trained as an engineer in riga. he's been working in the locomotive factory for 2 and a half years. on a resume, eva has been with the company for 29 years. she is bell russian and has a russian passport. she is happy with that which is some severe let the we live in latvia so we also feel like latvians as the how do we speak lat, vienne, and ration? but i have no, i would love to have him or more to face. what is the the city belonged sometimes

to one state, sometimes to another, as a result, different nationalities live here. i think that it is people from the outside who tried to make a conflict out of it, to drive a wedge between us like now for cbs, but we, ordinary people don't care whether we are real latvians or real russians. we don't want any problems. we have to hold on to a jobs with elizabeth so we can live here half decently to service and yet worship microphone. historically doug of pills has always been a rather russian city. now more and more people, especially the young speak latvian. i'm a latvian citizen at here in the company. we speak russian. it's still our everyday language. i have no problem with it. so i'm never close the can problem the russian language is common here. so to was russian television, but not any more. russian television channels are now blocked in all baltic

countries. abdulla caesar thing, if i were to see that my little was that i think there can be no objectivity for us like this. not from one side or from the other. we can't influence the situation anyway. we have our own thoughts about what we see that and good. we stand outside politics measure to somebody 0. if you're the village of the moving your body. yes . yes, this is what you to live again, is the blue. i think it's bad that the tv channels have been blocked. after all, there has to be another opinion if, if what western mass media report is true, that was what is the russian media have to be blocked. is something been hidden from us, matchup for me it is quite clear propaganda comes from both sides around the suddenly i said on a little whisper. yes, 5015 is emotional, but you could choose for yourself if you could hear and see both sides. you could probably, there is no neutral mass media either. one is either for one side or for the other

. that is why it is absolutely wrong to pound the channels on there. after all, not only the political channels were blocked, it also entertainment and sports channel. so yes, what the granny's watch, keith us, but i also don't understand why russian and bella, russian athletes were barred from the paralympics. why do they have to suffer from politics? i'm also strictly against at sports have nothing to do with politics. the war is also impacting the plant repair orders come mainly from russia and ukraine. they have disappeared over night and before the russian attack, ukraine placed a major order. now the payment of 9000000 euros is outstanding. will it come late or not at all? the planters asked or government assistance for employees, the situation feels threatening. you can feel it, you feel it. we felt it immediately mature was the situation heated up quickly with

them i from one day to the next. when nicholas blo several days, the locomotives that were supposed to come to his from ukraine and russia were stopped and turned round. it's much of our markets depends on these 2 countries in the book of yesterday and we live on the periphery of these countries. what happens there affects us here to not just our businesses, which will also affect other industries. you can see how some people are starting to panic. you only have to look in the stores or at the prices at gas stations to see how hysteria as mounting, oval to put them a little bit of upward. closing the plant would be a disaster or it's $640.00 employees. the city too would lose an important source of tax revenue, and people would start to move away to places where there is more work estonia or elsewhere in europe.

from dug up is we crossed the border into lithuania, home to the cities of vilnius and vista. it is the westernmost of the baltic countries. lithuania is sandwiched between bell roost to the east and the russian enclave of colleen and growth to the west. our next destination is vilnius. the capital welcomes us with skyscrapers a little like new york or frankfort. the city's modern business center is attribute to lithuanian economic rise and prosperity but vilnius is well known and loved for its historical architecture

because of its many churches. vilnius is called the rome of the north. since 1994, the old town has been a unesco world heritage site. here, buildings and gothic renaissance and lithuanian baroque style offer a stark contrast to the glass towers just across the nearest vilnius has a new street. the street of ukrainian heroes. the sign went up a few days after the war began a small alley in the west of the city. it leads directly to the russian embassy in the park, across the way. blue and yellow ribbons waved from the trees. at the end of

february, thousands of people stood here with home made banners protesting against the war. many lithuanians compare their country to west berlin during the cold war. and they fear it's only a matter of time before putin decides to take back the former soviet republics and the baltics as well. if ukraine falls to day, hootin will be on our doorstep to morrow, declared president ketani, now saida. the ministry of national defense is flying the flag of ukraine next to the lithuanian flag, ah defiant letters at the entrance, remind passers by maced nato. we are nato the

shock over the war in ukraine, and a resurgent fear of the russians has turned the city into a blue and yellow sea of solidarity. ah, ah ah ah, ah, ah. with every day for refugees from ukraine, arrive in vilnius in front of the official registration center. a private initiative has set up a stand here. individual donations are distributed for those with strollers. barbie

dolls, clothes cosmetics object with one of the helpers is judea. padaya little at one with the indians. want to help people probably feel very connected calling crane. it has always been like that of almost everyone knows someone in ukraine, of course, and this is also our history. after all, we used to be one country. i'm a fever, i love the there from conference. if you ever is these document gun pushed him to the home to bring the lot idea of an initiative is to bring people certain things that they don't get from the state that they get basic packages from what they need to survive. so we wanted to give them some little thing kind of climate cards, like hand ties for girls. hand cream cream. the women tell us they haven't used hand cream for weeks and their hands, a really rough and henderson saw. so we had

a table full of cosmetics fun, and after 10 minutes it was all gone. but that's just nice month month. you feel like you, randy? give people a little happiness? was me ok, look, adria padaya is 36, an anti trust lawyer. she studied and breyman and worked in a major law firm in dusseldorf da shannon to gotcha i. from michigan. i wonder germany and the germans. that was a wonderful me guys. i didn't even really compare them germany and think the way nivia lithuania was my life in germany was another world, another planet. i also didn't think that the life i saw in germany could ever become a reality. in lithuania, those were 2 different wells for me at that time, i've seen of elk from dallas. does lithuania truly belong to europe? does europe really stand behind lithuania? how secure can lithuanians feel with russia and bell rues for neighbors?

these are the questions people in vilnius are now asking themselves when russia attacked ukraine in february, this year, the government here declared a state of emergency basements were converted into shelters. the adria by diana had sleepless nights. she wondered whether she should leave the country as soon as possible with her husband po, villas and their 2 children on a mayor and hare coos. my bank then and dab on the fun, comes out morgan bones fun. people think it's thumbs full that they can full here. tomorrow i was checking the airlines every morning looking for flight. why should we go? should we go now or not yet? part of my my, my husband's father lives in 10 a reef the south. and that might be a destination for us, but the flights rural gone immediately. it was also 10 reese tourists season. and i have friends in germany, iceland, they all offered me apartments. it took

a few days to calm down a bit. among the case of bisons is poor, it's hard for her. the war in ukraine is as close as a phone call to her relatives and keith. her uncle lives there with his wife and 2 children. nett, 21, q. one doesn't m as in dog. ha, ha. they live in, ki, answered up and left on the 1st day football tava where the grandparents lived for women. but my uncle stayed in ki, if he is waiting for the russian army settlement as a liberator. unfortunately, he is a duane. yes, yes. but he never left in the independent state of lithuania, not his lung, give warrant. he was in russian army, and he believed that the russian army is the best. and that all this is good, that i may be a vesta if i knew that he was always on pate insight as like,

so this is all they were conflict within our family. unlike estonia and lafayette, with their relatively large russian populations. in lithuania, only about 5 percent of the population is russian. most russians left lithuania with the withdrawal of the red army. to day russia and lithuania our neighbors. are they also enemies? more than one demonte not available, woke up this visit to chip leak. this her house us was cause cause frequently in the 1st days of the war. i was very angry because i thought i took it all very personally though i really thought every russian was guilty of thinking. that the last, when to cut people you had one asked, she had a more give me more. even our babysitter is russian. sympathetic of ost, we thought about whether to do without her, as the saying goes away, maybe it's not good to have the enemy in your own house. i'll place to go here. i

will say articulate. i was a colbert. they performed on both of semen princess could go would not life, but then we realized that this is nonsense that people have lived here since birth . and even if they are russian yet, they have lithuanian passports to mask about, or they're not the ones who approve of houston and his military actions about them . so he must not crossed his line, go that in every russian you see only rushes war about them. and rushes people after all of themselves, hostage to their own government. when joseph thought play and in my opinion, they can hardly do anything about it. manon norman, a shadow, only uppercase there. zoom from dason talk. we grew up with this from the 1st day. we were born with doug along with the thought that russia is the aggressive, the occupier and, and that it can come back at any time you grew up with this thought that it can be that bad again. versus when appreciates. read of all the more on that one enjoys

this freedom all the more over me, but you also have this fear in the back of your mind. man. i thought you might visit him, the cough what ye do, and povey last are too young to have experienced soviet era. lithuania, po, be lost, was only 8 days old when the country broke away from the soviet union and regained its independence to day. they live here with their children, no differently than in western europe. oh. but does the past still shape them? oh, that's okay. oh man, that the orphaned in franklin, people say, when you talk to friends of yet, that in our country as something i probably inherited from the soviet times the

flight zone shed sunk is climb. we have lower self esteem than people in the west. the ship we value ourselves less and be dang the city at vinegar vowed sent than via. for example, when applying for a job thinking, many lithuanians also work at google up to look, we have many foreign companies. oh, you always assume you don't have the same chances as a frenchman to life or in italian year and from sarasota. yet, i see no real neg valence. austin, aged here in vilnius. he don't really feel a longing for the old soviet era anywhere. foster certain cultural values have been preserved among the older generation. after all these people spent most of their lives in the social order of that time. oh yes, we, however, belonged to a generation that grew up in an independent lithuania. we don't mourn values that we don't know yet just we consider ourselves westerners because we have little in

common with the east, with russia and the re yes. and that's alicia decline buddha. ot us fella. love the song we are of course the little brothers and sisters of the eas manage. yeah, this is a gift for us. the fia in there it wasn't was then we want speed lol with the other countries by mc and we are still very young. so to speak or shy, but it means and not to of young thoughts as i hung up thus the die. the me. stephan. this'll gone dick raska, not all most, not nor noticed that because of all this integration into the e. u. n's nato. we can feel safe here with the master. i'm convinced that they will protect our freedom, guaranteed we must also take care of ourselves on the out so that we can leave in peace without children. my howard ah,

we have been travelling in the baltic states for 10 days every day. a day of war. ah! laws thought reco versa. stooping, our last leg of the journey takes us to western lithuania. to the status. a village of 500 people on the border with the russian, ex clave of colleen and gras. ah, this is as far as we go. ah. ah. the village border is also the state border of lithuania. lying beyond it is the colleen and god region. once prussian, with couldn't expect as its capital. after the 2nd world war, the area became soviet. after the fall of the soviet union, it became a russian ex clave surrounded by nato countries. poland and lithuania

aah on this homestead right next to the border fence. lives 78 year old janina lava chowsky, near her husband and 2 sons have died. one grand daughter lives in israel, another in london. you're nina. love a chance. kenya has lived here since 1963 or did have a surety nip you a needle through a vehicle or did a bose sound, didn't even get my estate, leduvo little russell. at that time we were part of the soviet union. vinny, i worked over there in a children's holiday camp. i was responsible for distributing food oboski. i worked as a cook, as a cleaner. i did everything that was necessary is that a bo lead to ashes just not us. okay, even when the border came, i still worked on the clinic grad side. oh good. then the fence went up. oh god, it is almost impossible to get a job here in vista. this is in the past,

it was different. there was a kindergarten post office at holly clinic, a cultural center. now there is nothing and only warden you bull, but does bubble bullock again, nuka lou? ah, they did my good. go go it of via t. yes you then look, i am european. we'll get, discuss net about what kind of european look at me. look at my house. there is no one to renovate it to you. yeah. my, there is no money for that. either. those for the heating season mistake gives me 300 euros, but it costs 1000 euros. so i run up debts in the winter or then over the summer i pay off the debt and in the fall, when i have to buy firewood again, i go back into debt because if i spend everything on the firewood, there is nothing left over for full medical my we're good day while you'd never

guess would i get glazed today? get better legal in look, i still put us. no good job. got to what they get you yet i got. what should i say? do you know that we have an independent lithuanian? is good, better, but now there is a sense no, never, it would be better if it didn't exist. that does what done last and the little way yet did the wrong way. yeah. i wish to not have cut out nubians. no, i can't say anything bad about the russians. good. no, i couldn't even say half a bad word about them at a ball get. i bet. garcia. lucas, you know, got illegal. but this putin as far as nonsense. nobody wants warning. they didn't get a blow to associate noted where job is so it gets le gus and i'm chosen dog youlowa . i never grew

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ah, this is dw news live from berlin. russians destined for the front in ukraine as reservists are publicly called up to fight in the war. activists say the mobilization is far more sweeping than the kremlin is letting on. while ethnic minorities are being.