[FreeReign]

Residents of Estonia by ethnicity. Estonians   68.7% Russians   24.8% Ukrainians   2.0% Belarusians   1.1% Finns   0.8% Others   1.6%

Up against the Russian border, Ida-Viru county in Estonia is about 73% ethnic Russian. The other 14 counties in Estonia are largely Estonian.

Putin could probably walk in and take Ida-Viru but that might be his last play. No other region in Eastern Europe outside of Russia has a majority ethnic Russians.

Any other region besides Ida-Viru in Estonia(73% Russian) and Crimea in Ukraine(57% Russian) would be an entirely different circumstance.

[Focault's Pendulum]

Thanks. Did not know that about Ida-Viru but it makes sense.

[Krosan]

The difference here is that Crimea was poor, but Russians living in Estonia actually have a good life. They like to make noise, but all of them know very well how much better they have it in Estonia than Russians across the other side of Narva river.

I don’t know too much about military things, but here are my thoughts: There are no Russian military bases in Estonia as there is in Crimea and there is a visa regime. On land their military could get to Estonia over the bridge of Narva river. Border check is not heavily manned so maybe they manage to get some of their forces over the bridge before it is destroyed and bring other forces by other means. That would certainly mean invading a NATO member.