Tallinn was one of the urban areas of industrial and military importance in northern Estonia that underwent extensive Russification during the Soviet occupation (1944-1991).

There was then a large influx of immigrants from Russia and other parts of the former USSR. Entire new districts of the city were created, inhabited mainly by Russians: Mustamäe, Väike-Õismäe, Pelguranna, and, above all, Lasnamäe, which in the 1980s became and still is the most populated district of Tallinn.