Putin Says that ‘Without the Ethnic Russian People, Russia Cannot be Russia’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 5 – In yet another step toward further elevating the status of the ethnic Russians and forcing non-Russians to defer to them, Vladimir Putin who has been pursuing this line for some time said bluntly that “without the ethnic Russian people, Russia cannot be Russia” and that non-Russians must recognize that attacks on ethnic Russians are attacks on them too.

            In an address to his Presidential Council on Inter-Ethnic Relations, the Kremlin leader softened these remarks slightly by suggesting that “of course, the culture, customs and languages of every people in our vast country are also important and necessary.” But that was not the thrust of his remarks (kremlin.ru/events/president/news/78409).

            Instead, Putin suggested that because of the centrality of the ethnic Russian people, “the Russian identity, tradition, culture and language of our nation-forming people require the utmost care and protection” and that members of other nations in Russia must recognize that attacks on Russians from abroad are thus attacks on them as well.

            His sop to the non-Russians was his announcement that he has created two new holidays for the non-Russians, Indigenous Minority Peoples’ Day to be marked on April 30 and the Day of the Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation to be celebrated every year on September 8.

            But Putin’s comments about the special role of the ethnic Russians means that these are little more than a further folklorization of these peoples and that Russianization and Russification of non-Russians who form more than a quarter of the population will continue as long as Putin is in power.