Nationalities

Abstract

In no other area has the impact of glasnost and democratisation been as dramatic as in the nationality sphere. The push by the Baltic republics for the restoration of the sovereignty of the non-Russian republics; the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaidzhan over Nagorno-Karabakh; riots in Kazakhstan and Yakutia, mass meetings in the Ukraine, Belorussia and Moldavia; the vigorous national assertiveness being shown on a broad front by the non-Russian cultural elites; as well as the numerous demonstrations by Crimean Tatars and the sinister activities of the Russian ultra-nationalist Pamyat group, have brought home to the Kremlin and to the outside world the scale and seriousness of a nationalities problem which for years Moscow had denied even existed.

This chapter draws on an earlier article by the author written for Radio Liberty. See Bohdan Nahaylo, ‘Putting Current Nationality Problems in Historical Perspective’, in Glasnost and Empire: National Aspirations in the USSR, RFE/RL Studies, Munich, 1989, pp. 17–27.