ABSTRACT
Russia was a multinational empire. That seems obvious to us, but it was not always so apparent either to the imperial government or to its subjects. Not until Peter the Great introduced it was the official adjective rossiiskii used by the government in referring to the "Russian" Empire. Rossiiskii was derived from the Latin and was supposed to point to the fact that the state fashioned by Peter I was not exclusively Great Russian in composition. A major factor in determining policies and attitudes of the officials toward nationalities is the time of incorporation of non-Russian territory and the circumstances of the non-Russian populations. The imperial expansion of the Muscovite state began in the sixteenth century when one might have thought of differences both inside and outside it in religion, in way of life, but not of nationalities. The imperial expansion of Russia started in the middle of the sixteenth century and first moved east and southward.
