The Russian question in the post-soviet period

Abstract

This article examines the geopolitical dimension of the existence of several million Russians and Russian- speakers outside the Russian Federation in the light of the Ukrainian crisis. Special attention is paid to the demographic and identity components that affect Russian relations with the Russian-speaking community abroad. Despite a policy of de-Russification in certain countries (particularly Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine), the Russian language retains a primary role in Eastern post-Soviet Europe. In the southern part of the former USSR (“Eurasian Balkansˮ), the Russian-speaking community is a minority that has experienced a strong demographic decline, although the Russian language retains the role of a lingua franca. The Russian-speaking identity is a legacy of the Soviet cultural project and of the more ancient existence of the Russian (East Slavic) supranational identity. The majority of the Russian-speaking population, despite ambiguous relations with Moscow, is in favour of maintaining close relations and open borders with Russia. Attempts to overcome the syndrome of “divided nationˮ by interstate regional integration and by the promotion of the concept of a Russian world are faced with the political course of the national elites of the new independent States and geopolitical ambitions of Western powers. The Russian Orthodox Church is an important institution interested in promoting the idea of a Russian world. However, the problem of the emergence of international borders, dividing the Russian and Russian-speaking population, is one of the factors of separatism in the former Soviet Union. After the “reunificationˮ of Crimea with Russia, armed conflict in the Donbas is a tragic consequence of confrontation in Ukraine between two geopolitical and cultural-linguistic projects. The author concludes that the existence of the Russian-speaking supranational identity is not only a challenge for the new independent States, but also an important component in relations between Russia and its “compatriots abroadˮ. Refs 19. Tables 3.