ABSTRACT
Vladimir Putin's aim to ensure equality of citizenship rights across Russia represented a vision of the political community that found considerable support, not only among ethnic Russians but others as well. For the other republics the adoption of citizenship laws was a crucial element in state building, but at the same time proved bitterly divisive. The Russian government rejected the ethnic principle of state building and sought to find a balance between collective and individual rights while trying to ensure through the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that the administrative borders that had now become state frontiers should be 'transparent', allowing free passage for citizens of CIS states. Within Russia only certain autonomous areas populated by national minorities were the subjects of ethno-federalism, whereas regions inhabited by the titular nationality were effectively part of a unitary and centralised state.
