Estonians in Southern Samara (today's Krasny Kut district of the Saratov Province)

Having secured migration passes, the first Estonian families from Põlva and Kanepi counties formed a wagon train and departed from the Kirumpää roadhouse in Väimela district in May 1855, arriving in Saratov many months later. They were not granted free state lands within the province there, and thus they continued their journey on barges, crossing the River Volga. They ended up in the neighbouring Novoussen County of the Samara Province.

At first, they made a living from working for German and Russian households there. It took several years before the settlers finally received lands of their own. The former pastures of nomadic Kazakh tribes were devided among the applicants: 8-15 dessiatines (21.6-40.5 acres) per every male member of a family. The soil of the steppes demanded that the farm work be started in early spring, and the continental climate with its frequent drought years and failed crops put the settlers to a harsh test.

The foundations for the first Estonian village in the area, Liflyandka, were laid in 1859. The other Estonian villages in the Novoussen County were established some twenty years later: in 1880, settlers from Võrumaa and Põlvamaa founded Goretsk, in 1877, Baltika was formed by settlers from Jõhvi and Iisaku districts of Virumaa, and in 1885, people from Southern Harjumaa and Järvamaa counties established Estonia.

The thatched roof buildings in the villages were made of sun-dried, unburned bricks of clay and straw. Instead of firewood, a mix of straw and manure was used, popularly known as shitewood.

By the start of the 21st century, the only remaing village was Baltika - a small village with a few dozen inhabitants. A crumbling office and store building stood as a reminder of a livelier population in earlier times. There was a three-grade elementary school in the village, with one teacher and ten pupils; a cultural centre was located in the same building, which is where the young people gathered to pass their time in the evenings.