Civic Identity More Common in Bi-National Republics than in Others in North Caucasus, Poll Shows

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Apr. 2 – Residents of the two remaining bi-national republics in the North Caucasus – Karachayevo-Cherkesiya and Kabardino-Balkaria – are more likely to say their primary identity is as citizens of the Russian Federation than to point to any other identity compared to people in the other republics of the region.

            According to the results of a Russian Field poll, 48 percent of the residents of Karachayevo-Cherkesiya and 43 percent of those in Kabardino-Balkaria say their first identity is as citizens of the Russian Federation, compared to 36 percent for the North Caucasus as a whole (vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2026/04/02/1187301-severnogo-kavkaza).

            That finding may give new impetus to calls for amalgamating non-Russian republics as a way to weaken ethnic identity, something especially important to the Kremlin in this case because this poll suggests that is what has happened in these two Turkic-Circassian republics and might be expected to happen with others combined together.

            Among the responses for the region as a whole, the poll found, 17 percent said their primary identity was as a man or woman, nine percent pointed to religion, and six percent to their nationality. Other identities – citizen of the world or of the North Caucasus, resident of a particular district or village, or clan roots – were listed by even fewer.

            Other findings of the poll are also noteworthy:

·       Older people are more likely to identify as citizens of Russia while younger ones are more likely to identity in ethnic or other terms.

·       Younger people are more likely to identity as representatives of a religion than among those over 60.

·       And civic identity is more common among the more educated and better off than among the poorer and less well-schooled.