Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
I have heard from Scandinavians who speak decent Russian that Russian-speaking people almost immediately assume that they must be Baltic. So I would like to know: How does a typical Baltic accent sound? Ugly or nice? What are the tell-tale signs? (So I can AVOID them - I don't want to be mistaken for a Baltic person if I can avoid it.).
Yes, it's true. People will probably think that a Scandinavian person is from Baltic states (if his/her Russian is any good), or maybe Finnish. Why would you prefer not to sound 'Baltic'? I think it hard to do, since people tend to bring anything unknown to something they know (and Scandinavian accent is relatively rare).

Well, back to your question.

Russians usually do not distinguish Lettish, Estonian and Latvians accents, they just call them Baltic accents (though people who know any of these languages say that these accents are slightly different). So I'll talk about 'Baltic' accent in general (it's an Estonian accent, probably) and about an older generation, since many young people in Baltic states are not so good in Russian anymore.

First, it's very soft, sometimes barely noticable, but readily recognized as 'Baltic'. Many people think that it sounds sophisticated (unlike, say, Caucasian accents). The possible reason is a Soviet stereotype about Baltic republics, as more wealthy, more European, etc. (which was basicaly true. The level of life there was higher than in your average Russian town).

Some of the signs of a Baltic accent are:
- "ы"-sound sounds closer to "и"
- carefully enunciated and thus exaggerated "ч", "ш", "щ"
- soft consonants (including "ч"/"щ") often sound hard
- voiced consonants sometimes sound voiceless
- a peculiar intonation
ALso it's worth mentioning, that despite the accent their Russian was often impeccable.

Addendum
1.
Song by Анне Вески (1985), Estonian. She was/is one of the popular singers, who had Baltic accent.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn3tqsjSjkg
Interview with Raimonds Pauls (Lett), who has a slightly stronger accent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GpxsCaULtc
But you won't probably notice their accents... They are very slight.

2.
Someone asked "Do you like a Baltic accent?":
http://otvet.mail.ru/question/960517/
9 "yeses" and 1 "no".