ETVPLUS — broadcast
20261012 103000 UTC
351 transcript segments
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking
Data courtesy of The GDELT Project (https://www.gdeltproject.org/), from the Internet Archive TV News Archive.
Machine transcription. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a verbatim quotation record.

[00:00:16] Good evening, you're watching Narva Studio People Matter, and I'm your host,
[00:00:20] Mikhail Komashko. Today, we'll talk about anxieties and
[00:00:24] fears in the face of the threat of war.
[00:00:26] Surprisingly, according to a recent study, the fear of a possible
[00:00:30] Russian attack in Estonia is lowest precisely here, in Narva, in the
[00:00:34] Northeast. But
[00:00:37] why? Aren't we reading newspapers? What do the
[00:00:40] residents of the border town truly feel? Do
[00:00:43] we have answers to basic questions, like what to do
[00:00:47] if the threat becomes real? The Rescue Department has
[00:00:50] taught us for 10 years to have provisions for a week, but
[00:00:54] that's not about war. Who is truly responsible for our
[00:00:57] anxieties and preparedness? We'll
[00:01:00] discuss all this with our studio guests in just a few minutes, right
[00:01:04] after the news
[00:01:04] summary.
[00:01:10] Curfew in Ivangorod, increased border
[00:01:13] control, talks about possible scenarios for
[00:01:16] Narva. And so the topic of security has returned to
[00:01:19] everyday conversations. At the same time, studies show
[00:01:23] that residents of Idaviruma are less afraid of a Russian
[00:01:27] military attack than others. So, how calm
[00:01:30] does the border town feel, and most importantly, do people
[00:01:34] understand what to do if the hypothetical threat
[00:01:36] ever becomes real? Evgenia
[00:01:39] Parv investigated.
[00:01:44] There is no direct military threat to Narva today. This
[00:01:47] is emphasized at the state and local
[00:01:50] levels. But crisis preparedness begins long before it
[00:01:54] happens. The border town is preparing for different scenarios
[00:01:58] and already knows its weak points.
[00:02:00] What don't you have? We don't have
[00:02:03] a gas station with a generator. The closest one
[00:02:06] is Jõhvi. That's a big problem. We've already started
[00:02:10] solving it. Who, who of the
[00:02:13] oil suppliers agrees? Is it Alexela or
[00:02:16] is it any
[00:02:19] other oil, Neste
[00:02:23] or other suppliers, to build
[00:02:26] a new gas station there.
[00:02:41] Another problem is shelters. There aren't enough of them in Narva, as
[00:02:45] in other Estonian cities, yet. But the Rescue Department
[00:02:48] warns that in case of sudden danger, look for a designated
[00:02:52] public shelter.
[00:02:56] In such a sudden situation, when we have
[00:03:05] only in
[00:03:08] case of a national emergency, in such a case, public shelter
[00:03:12] owners have 72 hours to prepare it for
[00:03:16] use. Therefore, in case of sudden danger, it's better to assume
[00:03:19] that you have thought in advance where exactly you
[00:03:22] can take shelter, because there will be little
[00:03:26] time in such a situation.
[00:03:44] The same principle applies to a more serious crisis. The
[00:03:47] state helps first and foremost those who are unable to cope
[00:03:51] independently. The less
[00:03:55] you need help from the state or
[00:03:58] local government, the more.
[00:04:30] Does the state have a plan in case the crisis
[00:04:33] ceases to be hypothetical and becomes our reality?
[00:04:36] Of course, there are detailed plans, of course,
[00:04:40] there are resources for this, of course, there are people who work
[00:04:44] on this every day. In Estonia, several exercises
[00:04:47] have already been conducted on this matter. We have many, many people
[00:04:51] who participate, for example, in Kaitseliit or in other
[00:04:55] organizations where they are ready to
[00:04:57] help other citizens of our
[00:05:01] country. We have local governments that
[00:05:04] understand what they must do, including,
[00:05:08] for example, those
[00:05:10] local governments that are located in the western part of Estonia
[00:05:14] understand that in
[00:05:16] such a black scenario they will,
[00:05:18] of course, have to prepare for people
[00:05:22] who will come, for example, from border regions and
[00:05:26] move towards Western Estonia. We
[00:05:30] have all of this, and it develops with
[00:05:33] each, with each month, with each year, this
[00:05:37] system will become more robust
[00:05:40] and stable. danger always sounds
[00:05:44] sharper. The border is near, but readiness does not mean
[00:05:47] constantly living in expectation of war. It means
[00:05:50] understanding in advance what to do if the situation suddenly
[00:05:54] changes. Evgenia Parv and Artemy
[00:05:57] Famin. Narva Studio People
[00:05:59] Matter.
[00:06:04] At the Narva care home on the evening of October 6, an elderly woman
[00:06:08] died in a fire. The fire started in the smoking room.
[00:06:42] even if the client has a desire, yes, there, well,
[00:06:46] we have clients who smoke
[00:06:49] often, that is, then they will go out to
[00:06:53] the inner courtyard, then through video cameras,
[00:06:57] the security guard, the administrator will see what
[00:07:00] is happening with this or that client. On
[00:07:03] October 8, Tatyana Stolfot was dismissed from the position of
[00:07:06] head of the social work center, but the employment
[00:07:09] contract was terminated for other reasons, and this is not related
[00:07:13] to the tragic incident. The
[00:07:15] Narva budget this year is proposed to be increased by another 4
[00:07:18] million euros. The forecast for income tax
[00:07:22] revenue from individuals is increased by
[00:07:24] 1,450,000,
[00:07:27] based on the budget execution for the first 8 months.
[00:07:30] The city plans to borrow another 2.5 million for
[00:07:34] investments. First of all, it is worth noting the project for
[00:07:37] the construction of a separate storm sewer system in the old city,
[00:07:41] which is 2 million euros, and the project for the construction
[00:07:44] of a new kindergarten in the Kreenholm area, 273,000
[00:07:48] euros. Additional funds are also provided for
[00:07:51] the utility costs of city institutions, benefits for
[00:07:55] families, tree care, and repairs of children's sports
[00:07:58] grounds. The reading of the additional budget is scheduled for the
[00:08:01] session on October 13. After the changes,
[00:08:04] Narva's budget will be approximately 137 million
[00:11:31] system has started being tested. The water is directed into an underground
[00:11:34] tank, from where firefighters can take
[00:11:37] water if needed. We don't have
[00:11:40] the possibility for firefighters
[00:11:43] to draw
[00:11:47] water for firefighting.
[00:11:50] And, uh, with this solution.
[00:12:25] seasons in autumn, winter and spring, to understand
[00:12:28] if there is enough water in the reservoir. For residents,
[00:12:31] this is also important because the lack of water for
[00:12:35] firefighting previously hindered the approval of house
[00:13:10] of the program: possible threats and anxieties in Narva. We
[00:13:14] asked the city's residents if they feel
[00:13:17] safe today and how much the events
[00:13:20] around them affect their daily
[00:13:22] lives.
[00:13:26] I don't know what the situation is, it
[00:13:29] has always been unstable everywhere,
[00:13:32] yes. I feel
[00:13:34] normal,
[00:13:36] I'm not afraid of anything. And what gives you confidence,
[00:13:40] the feeling of being safe? I give it to myself, not the
[00:13:44] state, nothing at all.
[00:13:47] Many people are very worried, what would you advise
[00:13:50] them?
[00:13:52] I don't advise anyone anything, maybe read fewer news? I don't even know
[00:13:56] what's happening in the world, if anything.
[00:13:59] I live in my own world, a good, kind one. That's all. Recently,
[00:14:03] it's as if the situation is
[00:14:06] tense, people are starting to talk more often
[00:14:10] about an enemy coming here, or rather,
[00:14:13] there will be some war and so on, and that's a bit stressful, because
[00:14:17] why are people
[00:14:21] starting to spread it? Excuse me? What
[00:14:24] are you doing to maintain
[00:14:27] calm? Basically nothing,
[00:14:31] I just continue to live, do my own thing, try not
[00:14:34] to pay attention to all these provocations. Well, do you
[00:14:38] still feel anxious? Maybe a little, because I'm military
[00:14:41] obligated, I was in the army and yes.
[00:14:44] Yes. Here, yes, I feel
[00:14:48] safe,
[00:14:51] because we feel protected.
[00:15:25] I read very little, because
[00:15:28] to sleep peacefully.
[00:15:31] No, I don't follow what, why, how much,
[00:15:35] and where, no. Well...
[00:16:07] 20 years ago. And how old were you 20 years
[00:16:10] ago? Not at all, I wasn't even born yet. How do you
[00:16:14] know what happened 20 years ago? No, well, in principle, overall,
[00:16:17] based on such feelings,
[00:16:19] based on
[00:16:22] that,
[00:16:25] on such feelings that it used to be better.
[00:16:29] Do you have any feeling of anxiety because of this situation in
[00:16:32] the world? Not
[00:16:35] particularly. And you said,
[00:16:37] what if, what if, what did you mean?
[00:16:41] Well, what if everything doesn't get resolved, what
[00:16:44] if a war
[00:16:48] does start, what if this war isn't
[00:16:52] just a local conflict, what if this is a new world
[00:16:56] war?
[00:17:01] And we move on to the discussion in the studio. Let me introduce our guests:
[00:17:04] an employee of the Prevention Bureau of the Rescue Department, good
[00:17:08] evening, good evening. And journalist of the Northern Coast, Ilya Smirnov. Ilya,
[00:17:11] good evening. Good evening. I'll warn you right away, we've known each other for a long time, so it'll be easier for us to address each other informally,
[00:17:23] two respondents have a very low
[00:17:25] level of anxiety, and the reason for this is that they don't
[00:17:29] really read the news. So we decided to ask you if you agree with the
[00:17:33] principle "the less you know, the better you sleep" when it comes to the threat
[00:17:37] of war: yes or no. You can send messages to the
[00:17:41] phone number you see on your screens. The messages themselves
[00:17:44] are free, so please send them. Also, in two
[00:17:48] Facebook groups, "Narva as it is" and
[00:17:51] "My Narva," there's a post about this program. We're also
[00:17:54] monitoring comments there. In both groups, there are already over 50
[00:17:57] comments. People evaluate our program itself,
[00:18:01] the topic, and the anxiety of the threat very differently. But I would like
[00:18:05] to immediately state, as a disclaimer, that we are not military experts
[00:18:09] here, and to warn viewers that
[00:18:13] we will not be discussing the probability of war, or from which
[00:18:16] front, or from which direction it might start. We are
[00:18:19] Narvans, we work in different fields, and we are specialists
[00:18:22] in Narva, in Narvans. So, let's talk about whether Narva really
[00:18:25] isn't afraid of war. There was
[00:18:29] a September study, a September
[00:18:31] study commissioned by the Government Office, and
[00:18:34] indeed, to the question of...
[00:18:41] considers it probable, for example, in central Estonia
[00:18:44] 37%, so there's quite a big difference.
[00:18:47] Do you have a version as to
[00:18:51] why this is so? Do you agree with the results of the study that people in Narva are not
[00:18:54] anxious? Edgar?
[00:18:56] First, I would like to correct the words of the
[00:19:00] mayor of Narva, Ants, what he just said, that
[00:19:03] the closest, so to speak, emergency gas station is located from Narva
[00:19:07] in Jõhvi. In fact, the closest is in Narva-Jõesuu, well,
[00:19:11] there are also some in Jõhvi, but the closest to Narva is in Narva-Jõesuu. Regarding
[00:19:14] the anxiety
[00:19:17] of the residents of Narva, and not only Narva,
[00:19:19] I can't give a clear answer,
[00:19:23] whether someone is afraid or not afraid. I would say this concerns
[00:19:27] awareness. If a person knows what can
[00:19:30] happen, how to behave in a specific
[00:19:33] situation, and I would like to clarify specifically not
[00:19:36] only about... situations, I would like to say that we are talking about general crisis
[00:19:40] situations and specifically about what I would call the term
[00:19:44] "civil crisis." This also applies if something stops working,
[00:19:48] if it's not military, then civilian, yes, a crisis. But in your environment, do you
[00:19:51] notice anxiety, that people are talking about war and
[00:19:55] asking if it will happen or not? People usually, well, they don't
[00:19:58] discuss it so openly in our city in general, but
[00:20:02] they ask specifically about civil crisis, about what
[00:20:06] might happen to us. And how will it affect our lives? This
[00:20:09] might be related to military themes, but usually, in
[00:20:13] most cases, it's a civil crisis.
[00:20:16] Ilya, in your circle, is there anxiety?
[00:20:20] Yes, there is anxiety, and I suppose that the results of the survey, the
[00:20:24] numbers that you mentioned, are not quite
[00:20:27] correct. I assume that for some
[00:20:31] reason, it's difficult for people to be
[00:20:34] honest when answering such questions. I suspect that...
[00:21:20] those with small, medium,
[00:21:23] and slightly older children,
[00:21:27] mhm, these
[00:21:30] are people who are likely connected
[00:21:33] to state service, rescue service, or military service, those
[00:21:37] who will be affected by their work first and foremost by any kind
[00:21:40] of crises, civilian crises or military crises, that is
[00:21:44] precisely such people,
[00:21:47] who are obliged to care for their loved ones, first and foremost
[00:21:51] children, and those people who are obliged to care for society as
[00:21:54] a whole, these are civil servants. And I would probably add that
[00:21:58] there are many different groups, some, even if you look at the comments in
[00:22:02] those publications I mentioned, there is such
[00:22:05] a group of people who write that "we are not worried, because Russia will never
[00:22:09] attack, because Russia has never attacked, and Russia only
[00:22:12] defends itself." Well, it's clear where these narratives come from, and these are Kremlin
[00:22:16] narratives. There is a group that says "we shouldn't talk about it at all,"
[00:22:20] "we should talk about it," "no need to worry." There is a group that is not
[00:22:23] worried because "we have our own problems, we have heating
[00:22:27] prices, we have low salaries, unemployment, and so on, we don't have
[00:22:30] time to worry about global crises." There is a group of
[00:22:32] fatalists who say, "no matter how much I plan, it will still
[00:22:36] go differently." Or my favorite
[00:22:39] comment: "I don't care, I've lived my life." This
[00:22:42] is such a discrepancy of opinions and general readiness,
[00:22:46] anxiety, awareness.
[00:22:49] Even the rescue service. Do you see this as a problem, that
[00:22:52] people seemingly don't know about possible
[00:22:55] threats? Yes, this is precisely a part of a big
[00:22:59] problem, namely awareness,
[00:23:01] part of, specifically, so to speak, my job, my department,
[00:23:05] bureau, is to raise awareness so that people
[00:23:08] know what a shelter is, what to do
[00:23:12] if an order comes that one needs to take shelter. There was also a rather
[00:23:15] amusing comment that a woman is sleeping,
[00:23:18] came,
[00:23:27] and that's why we exist, we provide free training in different languages, at any time we can
[00:23:31] come, you can invite us to your company, to a housing
[00:23:34] association, to a school, to a university, and we will conduct the training
[00:23:38] and talk about these topics. If a person basically doesn't know
[00:23:42] what to do, then he will indeed panic, because
[00:23:46] he won't know what to do, how to behave in case of a threat. For this,
[00:23:50] there is, so to speak, our department, so that we can come to the place,
[00:23:53] explain and show that there are certain specific steps
[00:23:56] that need to be taken. How well do Narvans know what to do in
[00:24:00] case of different crises? We will definitely talk about this later. But yes,
[00:24:03] regarding this discrepancy, in your opinion, is it a problem that in
[00:24:06] Narva there is such a different attitude towards the
[00:24:09] threat itself, towards the topic, "what if Russia attacks"? I think
[00:24:13] these groups, or as you described
[00:24:17] different qualities of these. I think in reality these qualities
[00:24:21] are present in every person, just in different
[00:24:24] proportions, in each person a different opinion
[00:24:28] simply prevails. But such doubts that you listed,
[00:24:31] I think they plague many people, well, all
[00:24:34] people. But generally, so to speak, there is no
[00:24:37] such discrepancy, in fact all these qualities, all these
[00:24:41] thoughts are present in all people. But there is an assumption that in Narva,
[00:24:44] everything is very difficult with, let's say, the unity
[00:24:48] of the media space - it seems we all live in the same city,
[00:24:51] but the sources of information are very different, and therefore the
[00:24:54] attitude towards possible threats is different. Is this a problem
[00:24:58] of media literacy or media
[00:25:01] uniformity?
[00:25:04] Frankly, I don't see any problem with that. Sooner
[00:25:06] or later, at some important moment, the news will reach
[00:25:10] everyone. No, well, that's in case something happens. Okay, so if you
[00:25:14] compared or weighed those people who are not
[00:25:17] afraid, because they trust...
[00:26:32] percent of people, they, so to speak, if we take the example of evacuation,
[00:26:36] they will foresee leaving their city or
[00:26:39] place of residence. 30% of people will wait for official instructions, and
[00:26:43] 30% of people will remain where they are. So,
[00:26:46] if we are talking about evacuation, it's also important to understand
[00:26:50] how it happens, that you need to wait for an official
[00:26:53] order from the government, that, well,
[00:26:56] a large-scale or some other evacuation is starting. If the government, so
[00:27:00] to speak, is unable or incapable of giving this order, this order is then given by
[00:27:03] the rescue department. In that case, people should understand
[00:27:07] what evacuation is, where we will go, what to take
[00:27:10] with us, and we also explain this. That is, these are not
[00:27:14] specific courses on civil, so to speak,
[00:27:17] defense. These are precisely training courses on civil
[00:27:20] protection, covering everything, not just military topics. This
[00:27:24] applies to general crises, such as a gas leak, flooding, which happened in Järva recently,
[00:27:28] there was also, so to speak, a partial evacuation there. So it's not
[00:27:32] like...
[00:29:02] this is what, so to speak, people discuss. But you know that
[00:29:05] 30% will still run, well, this is, so to speak, some kind of, I'm not saying it's
[00:29:09] official information, there are statistics, it's generally discussed that I can
[00:29:13] say about the warning system, it's called Aalarm,
[00:29:17] and yes, as Mikhail already mentioned, it's
[00:29:19] both radio and television, there will be a red scrolling
[00:29:23] line, but there are also other options, first of all, we have
[00:29:26] sirens, we have SMS alerts, and also what I would like to
[00:29:29] say is that we will soon have a new system, it will be
[00:29:32] Procel, a system that works on the phone, it will
[00:29:36] make itself known, so to speak, with vibration, and
[00:29:39] sound, and a flashlight. That is, if we receive an SMS
[00:29:43] alert that something is happening, then if your phone is silent
[00:29:46] and you are sleeping at night, then it won't help. In fact, it also
[00:29:50] happened to me, once at night I was sleeping and woke up in the morning and there was already
[00:29:54] a whole list of messages. Therefore, I would also
[00:29:57] like to take the opportunity, so to speak, to advertise that yes, soon we
[00:30:01] will have an alternative. a new solution, that notifications will
[00:30:04] be sent to the phone with all these, this is one of the problems with these
[00:30:07] notifications, that people often said, but again, you
[00:30:11] already, you already gave this example, the woman read,
[00:30:14] "take cover." "What will I cover myself with? A blanket, really?" It's a funny joke, but
[00:30:18] if it's a serious situation, then it's a rather scary moment, because
[00:30:21] people don't understand how to interpret these
[00:30:24] warnings. Ilya, well, I think when we made different materials, and you
[00:30:28] made different materials about testing sirens and testing these.
[00:30:52] where it said that this is a test, you don't need to do anything, what the instructions will be, we don't know yet, but there were drone
[00:30:54] threats. And stay vigilant?