ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an effort to answer how Russians come to see themselves as Russian rather than Uzbek. It explores the processes of choice, imposition, and construction and develop a set of testable assumptions about identity creation in the near abroad among Russians living there. A Russian might have a salient religious identity as a practicing member of the Russian Orthodox Church. A Russian who speaks Estonian will choose an Estonian linguistic identity when the skill will lead to obtaining a job working for some government ministry in Tallinn. A Russian in Lviv will choose a liberal reformist identity when trying to win votes to gain a seat on a local governing board. Military training might, along with inculcating the need to defend the borders of Estonia, stress the need to defend ethnic Estonians from Russians. The existence of a political party based on a Russian constituency provides yet another opportunity for a Russian identity to be inculcated.
