Russians in the Former Soviet Republics

The resurgence of Russian nationalism, exemplified by the electoral success of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party, is driven by support from the 25 million Russians now outside the boundaries of Russia proper since the break-up of the USSR in 1989. They are subjects of states where the majority population is ethnically, linguistically and often denominationally different from themselves; many feel beleaguered and threatened, and are turning to extremists of every hue in an attempt to secure their future. Their fate is closely linked to that of the Russian armed forces, elements of which have lent clandestine military support to Russian minorities in the civil wars in Moldova and Georgia. This is a pioneering work, and contains an introduction explaining the growth of the diaspora from the Middle Ages to 1917; case-studies of areas with large Russian populations; and analyses of the various problems of Russians in non-Russian states and how these might be resolved without armed conflict or forced migrations. The author highlights the importance of the minority question to Russia's ultra-nationalists whose ultimate aim is to re-establish a multi-ethnic Russian empire and who might use the Russian minorities as Hitler used the Sudeten and Polish Germans before 1939.