ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the process of national identity construction in the post-Soviet Russia and the significance of conflicting historical narratives for the current deplorable state of relations between Russia and the Baltic states. It addresses the issue of national identity building in Russia in recent years and highlights the differences between Russia and other post-Soviet states, including, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The chapter describes existing rationalist accounts of the Russian-Baltic relationship. The legacy of the Soviet Union as an "affirmative action empire" leads to a situation where, instead of prioritizing equality of all before the law, the state engages in supporting local cultures and languages as a way of paying respect to the "multinational" character of the Russian Federation. Consequently, the concept of the continuer-state was left as the only possible basis for national identity, and the imperial historical narrative, cleansed of the most conspicuous Soviet ideological clichés, remained at the core of various community-building practices.
