Friday, December 7, 2018

Putin Wants Residents of Russian Federation to Identify as Members of Single Civic Nation But Only 84 Percent Now Do


Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 7 – Today, the Kremlin Internet portal published the Strategy of State Nationality Policy for the Period to 2025. Signed by Vladimir Putin, it calls for all residents of the Russian Federation to have a civic national identity but acknowledges that at the present time only 84 percent of them do.

            The 24-page document (/publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001201812070007) is a revision of the 2012 one.  The most important changes involve requirements that the goals outlined in it be achieved, the most important of which is the creation of a unified non-ethnic Russian national identity.

            But the document itself insists that there is much work to be done in the coming years because one in six residents of the Russian Federation do not share that identity, preferring instead to identify as members of ethnic nations, both Russian and non-Russian or of other communities as well.

            Whether getting all residents to identify in this way is possible, however, is very much in doubt: the Russian government has not even been able to come up with legislation defining the nature of non-ethnic Russian civic identity despite Putin having set several deadlines for this to happen.

            In a related move, Putin also confirmed the assignments for various officials outlined at the October 26 meeting of the Presidential Council on Inter-Ethnic Relations.  Again, his order laid stress on fulfilling specific goals, including the preparation of a textbook on nationality policy by the end of August 2019 (nazaccent.ru/content/28819-putin-utverdil-porucheniya-po-itogam-zasedaniya.html).

            If the past is any guide, that deadline is unlikely to be met either.

No comments:

Post a Comment