the kremlin’s new approach to national identityPutin thus explicitly linked the nation- building project with the
history of the ethnic Russians and their statehood. He also used
the opportunity to denounce again nationalism and chauvinism
‘of various stripes and persuasions’ (Putin 2012c): all manifesta-
tions of separatism and nationalism should be removed from the
political agenda. This time around, however, the main addressees
among putative nationalists were not the Russian ethnonational-
ists, but the non- Russians:
We must not forget that nationalism and chauvinism do direct and
enormous damage especially to the people and the ethnic group whose
interests the nationalists are supposedly defending... We must regard
attempts to provoke ethnic tensions and religious intolerance as a
challenge to the unity of the Russian state and as a threat to all of
us. We will not allow the emergence of closed ethnic enclaves in
Russia with their informal jurisdiction, existing outside the country’s
common legal and cultural norms, and disdainfully disregarding the
accepted standards, laws and regulations. (Putin 2012c)In the course of the next year and half, Putin delivered two
landmark speeches pertaining to the Russian identity project: in
September 2013, a keynote address to the Valdai Club gathering
of international Russia specialists; and then in March 2014, a
speech to the Federal Assembly and regional heads, outlining the
background for welcoming Crimea and Sevastopol as new sub-
jects of the Federation.
The 2013 Valdai Club meeting was devoted to the theme
‘Russia’s diversity for the modern world’– but, instead of praising
diversity, Putin’s speech accentuated the fundamental need for
developing a unified nation in terms of values and outlook:
In the end, economic growth, prosperity and geopolitical influence all
derive from societal conditions; from to what extent citizens of a given
country consider themselves a unified nation, to what extent they are
anchored in their own history, values and traditions; whether they are
united by common goals and responsibilities. In this sense, the ques-
tion of finding and strengthening national identity really is fundamen-
tal for Russia. (Putin 2013a)