The 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine as an Identity Project. Disentangling the Roots and Dynamics of Russia’s Long War over Post-Soviet Identity

In this paper we will devote our attention to the evolution of the narratives promoted by the Russian Federation around the Russian identity in post-Soviet times, focusing on their impact on the other former Soviet republics. Here we will move from an ideational dimension to concrete policy-making: in particular, our attention will go to the legal dimension of Russian identity-building. By reviewing legal acts and programmatic documents adopted by the Russian state over the last decades, we will identify the unfolding “normativization” of the identity project in post-Soviet Russia and its implications for Russian foreign policy in the post-Soviet space. As we will see in the final section of the paper, the case of 2022 Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine shows how the initial ideational dimension can evolve into concrete policies, such as the process of “passportization,” which unfolded in 2014-2022, making ethnic Russians and/or Russian speakers abroad again part of a legally-binding community of Russian citizens under the control of the Russian state.