Paul Goble
Moscow’s formal nationality policy has, up to now, focused on the non-Russians living within the borders of Russia rather than on the ethnic Russian majority. Some ethnic Russian nationalists have long complained about this policy, even when the Russian government pursued intensive linguistic Russianization and cultural and political Russification campaigns (see EDM, June 24). Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, has changed this long-held policy. In the new nationality strategy paper he signed on November 25, which sets out his goals for the next decade, Putin has put ethnic Russians at the center of the country’s nationality policy (Government of Russia, November 25). The new strategy demands that non-Russians identify as civic Russians, a group Putin defines exclusively in terms of ethnic Russian values (Readovka; Vzglyad; Meduza, November 26). On the one hand, this will please many ethnic Russian nationalist groups and encourage them to become even more aggressive (see EDM, October 15, 2024). On the other hand, it will anger many non-Russians, who will view this as a further attack on their national institutions, leaving their cultures as little more than folkloric groups (The Moscow Times, May 11). This sets the stage for a new era of tension and clashes between the two groups, one that will ultimately threaten both ethnic Russians and non-Russians alike. Putin will be able to manage this tension only by increasing repression, and in the short term, he will need to create a new bureaucratic structure to manage the situation.
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