Russian national politics in 2011

One of the most promising events of the national politics of 2011 was the February session of the State Council in Ufa, during which President Medvedev called on the regional leaders to attribute highest priority to the consolidation of different ethnic groups of Russian society and to promotion of tolerance. Some experts suggested back than that the year 2011 could become a turning point of Russia’s national policy. The year has almost passed now, and experts gathered again to discuss the actual implementation of the measures stipulated by the Ufa meeting on a press conference “National politics in 2011: expectations and reality”.

Vladimi Zorin, deputy head of the Miklukho-Maklay Institute of Anthropology:

“The process of politicization of the ethnic factor entered a more active phase due to the economic crisis, global developments and such political events as elections and census. The public attention to this matter also increased. The Lomonosov Moscow State University even plans to create a special department for Russian ethno-politics studies.

As for the complex of measures undertaken, it helped ease the tension and make the situation more manageable, but it’s far too early to claim victory. Not all opportunities have been used, for example, the Public Chamber and the State Duma could have been more involved in the matters. On the other hand, the Ministry of Regional Development boosted its cooperation with mass media in order to promote the image of pan-Russian identity. The ‘nationality’ section in Russian passports should be abolished”, - the expert suggests.

He also expressed his concern with growing separatist trends in some regions: according to Mr Zorin now these separatist ections have economic grounds, and not only ethnic as they used to in the 90s.

Alexander Zhuravskiy, the head of the International relations department under the Ministry of Regional Development:

“Our Ministry’s main priorities are to strengthen the unity of the Russian nation, the harmonization of inter-ethnic relations and ethno-cultural development. One of the most important decisions in this field is the creation of an interdepartmental working group headed by Dmitry Kozak. The group has already worked out a strategy of national policy and education for the next year. Similar working groups were created in all regions of our Federation. 60 regions launched special programs for inter-ethnic peace promotion. Special attention was paid to increasing the qualification of local administrators regarding the ethnic tolerance.

We are experiencing some difficulties with unification of our inter-ethnic interaction policy as absolutely different types of societies co-exist in Russia. However, our main task is to create a single, all-Russian identification of civic solidarity (that would by no means try to assimilate all ethnic identities into one). We haven’t worked out an actual program yet, first we have to prove its necessity to the government”.

By VK