Paul Goble
Staunton, June 15 – Moscow’s new nationality policy strategy document for the first time devotes much of its attention to preserving and developing the culture of the ethnic Russian people as the “state-forming” nation in the country and expands its attention on how to counter threats to Russia’s stability emanating from abroad.
Prepared by the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs and covering the period through 2036, the new document once approved will replace the one that had been in force since 2018 slated to run out this year (regulation.gov.ru/Regulation/Npa/PublicView?npaID=157502 and nazaccent.ru/content/44100-fadn-opublikovalo-proekt-novoj-strategii-nacionalnoj/).
The two most striking features are the draft’s focus on promoting the culture of ethnic Russians, something earlier nationality strategy documents said little or nothing about, and its obsession with threats to the country’s stability emanating from abroad, including but not limited to immigration and the impact of foreign efforts to reach ethnic groups in Russia.
The current draft is certain to spark debate, possibly leading to a delay in its adoption as was the case with the earlier ones (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2018/10/new-nationality-strategy-opens-way-to.html). But the two main thrusts are likely to remain in place and reflect the Putin regime’s focus on the ethnic Russian majority and threats from abroad.
And this focus overshadows the pattern which was true of all those earlier documents: a focus in the first instance on non-Russian minorities and the need to provide special protections for them because they are typically not in a position to defend themselves as effectively as the dominant ethnic Russian majority
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