Russophones (Ukrainians, Belarussians and others)

The word "Russophones" often baffles English readers when it is used in Baltic States contexts. Is "Russophone" a euphemism for "Russian"? Not really, it is a wider term.

While the majority of settlers Soviet Union sent to the Baltic states were ethnic Russians, far from every one of them was. Other ethnicities from the Soviet Union would also arrive, including Belarussians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Azeri, Moldovans, people from Central Asia.

Neither of these ethnicities (with the exception of Belarussians) existed in Lithuania prior to 1940 in numbers larger than 50 individuals. People from all them share certain similar traits. Despite different origins, they are quite frequently using the Russian language at home and they likely speak Russian better than Lithuanian or (at least those born before ~1975) speak no Lithuanian at all. Due to this reason, they are often grouped together with Russians under the term "Russophone". While the term is mostly used in Latvia and Estonia, it is useful to understand the post-Soviet ethnic tapestry all over the Soviet-controlled lands.

Politically the "Russophones" typically identify the Soviet Union positively and are more likely to be atheists than most other ethnicities.

The above traits are more pronounced in some ethnicities (Ukrainians, Belarussians, interethnic Russophone families) and are less pronounced in some others (Georgians for instance). 55% of the Belarusian community speak Russian natively (only 35% speak Belarusian). The same is true for 66% Jews, 56% Ukrainians, 47% Tatars, 38% Estonians, 36% Armenians, 36% Georgians, 31% Moldovans and 27% Azeris.

The Russophone community was partly created by the Soviet policies which did not establish any non-Russian Soviet language schools, theaters, or media outside of that language's titular homeland, forcing the increasing internal migrants (and some historical minorities) to use the wide network of Russian institutions instead.

Alexander Pushkin Russian language school in Pašilaičiai borough of Vilnius. Like most new Soviet schools it was build based on a typical project. Attendances of Russian language schools declined since 1990 but most are still open. ©Augustinas Žemaitis.

The offspring of Russophone families would often consider themselves Russian (if at least a single parent would be a Russian) or, after 1990 independence of Lithuania, Lithuanians (especially if one of the parents was Lithuanian). This assimilation of their youth into Russian and Lithuanian communities made the share of Russophones to decline rapidly: only ~5% of Lithuania's Belarusians and Ukrainians were younger than 19 according to 2011 census.

Due to a wide knowledge of the Russian language in Lithuania, people of the former Soviet Union (especially Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia) continue to immigrate, albeit in lower numbers than in 1940s-1980s. This trend became prevalent the first time ~2006-2008 when new Russophone immigrants would take jobs in construction, truck driving, and similar. While the 2009 economic downturn temporarily stopped such immigration, the numbers of new Russophones swelled again in the late 2010s. This time, Russophones would fill in the gaps left by emigrants in service jobs as well. Therefore, controversially, the main cities of Lithuania returned to the dreaded Soviet-era situation where some services would only be provided in Russian, as a restaurant chef, a salesman or a taxi driver would speak no Lithuanian.

However, new Russophone immigrants are often less Russified than the Soviet-era settlers, some of them are actually even anti-Russian due to the Russian aggression against their homelands (e.g. Ukraine or Georgia). Still, even these immigrants often use the Russian language to communicate in Lithuania as they don't speak Lithuanian, while the people of Lithuania don't speak their native languages (Ukrainian, Georgian, etc.). Some of these "new Russophones of Lithuania", however, prefer to speak English over Russian (if they speak English).

Lithuanian views towards Russophones typically depend on their stance. The more Russified ones are often regarded as Russians, however, the other ones that seek to defend their cultures from russification often get the sympathy of Lithuanians. Using the term "Russophones" when speaking about them may be controversial.

Around 2% of Lithuania’s population was from one of these ethnicities (excluding the ethnic Russians) in 2011, likely a higher number today.