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Although narratives of national identity feature territory, myths, and historical memories presumably shared by members,1 national identity formation is an ongoing process with changeable membership and boundaries.2 One of the more complex challenges to a national "imagined community" has been the significant presence in Estonia of cultural Russians3 after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, at that time one-third and now some 28% of the small country's population. The often grudging accommodation of cultural Russians by the titular nationality continues to draw attention from international organizations, scholars, and policymakers alike. Undoubtedly the commentary least welcome to Estonian governments in the last decade, however, has been the thunder of denunciation from Russia. In a great spillover from domestic concerns about Slavic identity to international relations, Estonia has been ranked as Russia's greatest enemy, and political figures across the spectrum have condemned Estonian citizenship and language policies.4
Estonian politicians frequently denounce this linkage between cultural Russians and Russia.5 Russian belligerence in insisting upon her "rights in the near abroad" regarding cultural Russians is, understandably, seen as an effort to re-establish influence in an area only just recovering from Soviet domination.6 But within Estonian domestic discourse other linkages exist that connect the cultural Russian population with Russia, chiefly negative images of Russian politics which seep into discussion of cultural Russians in Estonia.7 Although the portrayal of cultural Russians in the Estonian press became more varied as the 1990s progressed8 and important recent work by Estonian scholars demonstrates common ground between Estonians and cultural Russians,9 these findings still compete with stereotypical images and ethnic polarization.10 A tendency to blur foreign affairs and domestic issues from both sides of the Estonian-Russian divide exacerbates what are probably inevitable tensions between Russia, Estonia, and the cultural Russians in Estonia.
This article considers the border between Estonia and Russia as a marker for the larger issue of Estonia's desire to "draw the line" against Russian interference, domestic and international. Of great relevance to this exercise is how one imagines the cultural Russians in Estonia, not as an exercise of imagination versus reality, but as an exploration of the ways in which perception shapes comprehension and subsequent behaviour.11 Renan's two facets of nationhood-a rich legacy of memories and present-day consent, the desire...