ABSTRACT
During the later part of 1998 and the first months of 1999, the political climate between Russia and the United States became strained, and there were numerous interviewees who gave admonitions to the effect that the only remaining superpower was hungry and on the move, stating that no country in the world was safe from its quest for increased power and influence. National self-images represent national identities, and also inform them. Unless the centre manages to restore or at least improve its legitimacy in the eyes of the regional elites, the centrifugal forces would seem to be potentially awesome. Moreover, the dwellers of the Russian regions obviously do not hold Russia to be a part of the Islamic world, which above all is perceived as an internal threat to the fabric of the Russian state polity.
