ABSTRACT
Among the many consequences of the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, one of the most important is the formation of a new Russian diaspora—ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking minorities in the newly independent states (NIS) of the former Soviet Union. The largest European nation, with a long record of imperial domination, suddenly became a divided people with vulnerable peripheral groups. It is only natural that such a historical development would be extremely painful for Russian national identity. The sentiment of national deprivation and humiliation, aggravated by the current socioeconomic and political crises in the Russian Federation, may have disastrous implications not only for Russian society, but also for international stability in the post-Soviet geopolitical space and beyond. Suffice it to remember how a similar feeling was exploited by the Nazis in Germany in the aftermath of World War I. A more recent and also tragic analogy may be drawn from the rise of aggressive national-communism in Serbia after the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
