Russia’s Multi-National and Poly-Confessional Character Doesn’t Make It Unique or Give It a Competitive Advantage, Silantyev Says

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 5 – Roman Silantyev, an outspoken critic of Islam who is closely tied to the Russian Orthodox church and is rumored to be close to the Russian security services, argues that multi-national and poly-confessional character of the Russian Federation doesn’t make it unique among nations or give it any competitive advantage.
    His argument against this idea -- which is enshrined in the Russian Constitution and regularly cited by Putin and Kremlin ideologists -- is clearly intended to further undermine such official support as there is for both and thus open the way for new attacks on non-Russians and non-Orthodox faiths (vz.ru/opinions/2025/2/5/1312945.html).
    The reason that Silantyev makes this argument is that many people, including Kremlin loyalists, maintain that Russia’s numerous nations and religions set it apart from other countries and give it a comparative advantage in dealing with others and thus should be celebrated rather than be a source of concern.
    But by making this argument, Silantyev clearly hopes that others in Moscow will drop any references to these features of the Russian population and that they will then be more willing to insist as he does that the Russian Federation is an ethnic Russian country with minorities and an Orthodox Christian one with minorities rather than something else.
    If that becomes the dominant view – and Putin and his entourage have been moving in that direction – it will remove one of the most important ideas that has acted as a partial constraint on attacks against ethnic and religious minorities who will thus be reduced to marginality rather than seen as an essential element of Russian life.