Moscow Should be Worried about Discontent of Ethnic Russians and Not Just Discontent of Non-Russians, Molchanov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 7 – An “abnormal” situation has arisen in Russia where the assertion that “Russia is the country of Russians” is considered almost extremist and any moves to address the concerns of ethnic Russians is viewed as something “almost extremist” and a threat to the survival of the country, Igor Molchanov says.

            Those who feel that way say that nothing can be done to change the Soviet-imposed divisions within the country lest that lead non-Russians to seek the disintegration of the country, the Svobodnaya pressa columnist says. But Moscow should be worried instead about discontent among ethnic Russians (svpressa.ru/society/article/530979/).

            In reaction to such attitudes and their impact on Moscow’s thinking, many Russians now are reflecting bitterly that “the Russian is the owner of the hotel and has keys to all the doors, but he has no room of his own” and wondering whether that will ever change so that they too will have their place in the sun.

            It is in fact “amazing,” Molchanov continues, that while “the resentment and discontent of peoples on the periphery and the numerically small nations are feared, the discontent of ethnic Russians is not.” 

            “The fact that there are 150 indigenous peoples living on the territory of the Russian Federation doesn’t trump the fact that the Russian people constitute an absolute majority of the country’s population,” with 71.7 percent of it declaring themselves to be ethnic Russians in the 2021 census.

            (Moscow routinely cites a figure of over 80 percent and most Westerners follow it and say the same, but that figure reflects official assignment of nationality to the large share of the Russian population that did not give any nationality mostly to the Russians even though these people did not identify as such.)

            The 71.7 percent of the population the Russians now form is less than it was, but it is still numerically dominant over all others and vastly more than any of the individual nationalities: The Tatars, the second largest nation, for example, Molchanov continues, amount to only 3.8 percent.

            That ethnic Russian preponderance must be recognized, he continues; and “there should thus be a fundamentally different approach to the resolution of the national question,” one that doesn’t depersonalize ethnic Russians but rather recognizes “without any reservations, the Russians as the state-forming people.”

            The ethnic Russians “must defend their right to their own existence, Molchanov argues, although he quickly adds that “no one is talking about the infringement of the rights of other indigenous peoples.” But everyone must recognize that the Russian people is the only one capable of keeping the country together and the state in place.