How much do you trust your national minority?

At the Forum of European Minority Regions organised by FUEN (Federal Union of European Nationalities) recently it was interesting to hear from Finland, which has a Swedish minority of around 5% of the population. Trust in them is so big that they even allow them to have a Swedish language regiment in the armed forces. Everybody has to learn Swedish at school. In Estonia on the other hand there is a sizable Russian speaking population of around 22%. Some of them are monoglots, probably mostly for historical reasons, and they even struggle to get access to medical services. They are often also stateless as they have to prove they are able to speak Estonian to get a passport. In light of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine they are faced with considerable suspicion. While that may be understandable to a certain point I’m not sure if alienating them will turn them into loyal citizens.