What does a Russian person mean? Can anyone be Russian? What nations are our brothers?

1. Why do you consider yourself Russian? By purity of blood, by language, something else?

Moreover, for leadership positions. It is curious that when determining Jewish, Tatar or Swedish nationality, liberals take their interlocutor’s word for it, without stooping to find out who he is, a Mischlingen or a Quateronese? So take my word for it, unless you are Nazis, of course. I am Russian.

2. Do you enjoy being Russian?

No, I don't. Awareness is a constant and cannot cause emotions.

3. What's good about Russians? What are the positive and unique features of national character?

Take a globe or geographical map. Look at the location and size of Russia and get answers to all your questions.

4. What does the Russian landscape look like? Will you kiss the Kamchatka sand in patriotic delight? And the wet Taimyr tundra? Where are the boundaries of the native? Kunashir, Shikotan – native land?

Moreover, for this honor - to expand the borders of the Russian world, the great traveler gave his life. Moreover, in terrible torment, stretched out over many months. Maybe Middendorf didn’t want to be Russian - in those years, people serving Russia were rarely asked such stupid questions.

But the Russian world is contagious with its centripetalism. You can be a Georgian prince all your life and remain a great Russian commander for centuries. This paradox infuriates representatives of self-contained ethnic groups and nations who are unfriendly to Russia.

Therefore, the “borders of the native” depend only on a specific historical period. It is no coincidence that just the other day, Japan decided to reformat its self-defense police forces into a full-fledged army. What is it for?

5. What is our historical tragedy?

We have already experienced our historical tragedy - this is the rejection of national identity in favor of false and crafty truths brought from outside. The story is old, with a logical ending - the Russians will remake everything for themselves, in the way that suits them. One can recall Byzantine Christianity. vk.com/anti_maydan The same thing awaits Western liberalism, as a non-national, godless aggressive concept that protects individualism and vices. He will stay in our hut, but you won’t recognize him.

6. When was our Golden Age?

Russia never had a golden age. The Golden Age is an ethnos in the phase of obscuration, after which decay, death, and dissolution sets in. Russia is still far from retirement.

7. Who is our main character? Oslyabya? Pozharsky? Suvorov? Zhukov?

Our main character is the Unknown Soldier, who lies near the Kremlin wall. Avatar or symbol of everyone who gave their lives for our country.

8. Who is our main prophet?

Tyutchev: “You can’t understand Russia with your mind.” Moreover, the Slavophile Tyutchev meant the rational Western mind, which does not work in our civilization.

9. What is our national lullaby?

- “Tired toys sleep,” and try to prove that this is not so.

10. What is our national dance? The Irish dance the jig, the Caucasians dance the lezginka, the Jews dance the freylekhs, but what about us?

Not a tribal community with complexes of rituals. We have a Church for rituals and ceremonies, but dancing is prohibited there, and those who did not understand this were explained clearly.

11. What is our national game?

Hide and seek, “Cossack robbers”, “war game”. Here we are leading in the adult competition. Chess, checkers, dominoes. Recently, backgammon has become another national game.

12. What is our national dress? How would you dress for a Russian-style party?

A quilted jacket, a St. George ribbon in the buttonhole, kirzachi and a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

13. What is our national dish?

What one national dish can a country have that lies on one-sixth of the continent's landmass? And Russians live everywhere. Specify the time zone, region, climate zone.

14. What kind of death is considered worthy?

For my friends, for the land, for my faith.

15. Which nations are our brothers?

Those humanoid races of our solar system who are ready to accept our love and take on brotherly obligations in return. Russians easily accept new brothers, but very harshly write them back. This is what we are seeing now in the ruins of the once fraternal republic.

This passage was born during a discussion on one of the blogs, when discussing the question: who is Russian? "Dad is Turkish, mom is Greek, and I." If a person feels culturally and morally-psychologically Russian, that means he is Russian - you can’t think of anything more threatening to the ethnic identity of the Russian people...

Suddenly it became clear that it was absolutely impossible to answer this question unambiguously. Everything is so confused in our heads that someone urgently needs to start dealing with this difficult issue. After all, further ignoring this topic at the level of society and the state will lead to Russians may finally lose their national and ethnic identity- they are trivial when meeting based on external, behavioral and other signs.

Russians may finally lose their national and ethnic identity.

The main problem with this issue is that The modern concept of “Russian” includes the meaning of the word “Soviet”, as a collective concept of all peoples living within the borders of Russia and focuses on the fact of the joint formation of individual stages of history. Added to this is confusion with the official concept of “the Russian people are cement.” In such a conceptual mess, it is not possible to unambiguously answer the question: who are the Russians and what characteristics do they have?

Where to begin

I would suggest starting with pre-imperial times. That is, from the time when Peter I had not yet brought many foreigners to Rus' (to Russia) and did not allow them to take government positions in which the fate of the empire and its people was decided. Namely, which should serve as a starting point for the beginning of the formation of the image of a Russian person. The main territorial conquests and assimilation achievements were made during that period. Russian people from the Russian Kingdom formed the core, the base of the Russian people, which everyone else then joined.

Russian people from the Russian Kingdom formed the core, the base of the Russian people.

The value of the pre-imperial period of Russian history also lies in the fact that it is imperative to remember that Russians are Slavs. That is, Russians are an accumulating concept based on Slavic ethnic groups. Without a Slavic approach to the topic of Russian identity, it will not be possible to preserve in history all the wonderful qualities of the people. Without Slavic basis, Russians will become a "dump of nationalities".

It is also worth remembering that Peter I built the Russian Empire on the basis of Russian living material from the central regions of Russia. And this one " Russian live material"was formed around a Slavic core, to which Tatar, Finno-Ugric and Siberian blood flowed.

Why do many people want to be Russian?

Because It's profitable to be Russian. Russians are a VERY promoted brand, involvement in everything Russian gives a person a great boost of self-esteem and positions him in the outside world as a representative of the largest country, with a rich history of victories, achievements, conquests and discoveries. With a thousand-year history of creativity. With Russian ballet, Russian bayonets and the proud phrase “Russians don’t give up!”

It pays to be Russian. Russians are a VERY promoted brand...

Of course, we shouldn’t forget that the Soviet past remains in people’s memories, and then having a Russian language was considered very profitable and they got it by hook or by crook.

State position

The state deeply don’t care about the topic of Russian self-identification. If you now immediately remove all Russians from Russian territory and bring in “smart blacks and Asians,” then the state machine will continue to work as it has worked. There will simply be black workers at the rigs and factories.

What difference does it make to a manager whose goal is profit who stands at the machine? What the hell does it matter whose finger presses the missile launch button - Slavic or Mongolian?

It’s even more convenient for the state, because it’s those Russians whose roots go deep into history who can say: this is my oil, this is my gas, this is my territory. And they will say this on the simple basis that the soil of Russia is abundantly watered with the sweat and blood of their ancestors, who descend from pre-imperial Russians and those who dug ditches with their hands to drain the swamps around the future St. Petersburg and whose bones lie in its foundation. This the city was built on the bones of Russian men from central Russia, but there are hundredths of a percent of Turks, Greeks, Jews, Armenians and Georgians.

St. Petersburg was built on the bones of Russian men from central Russia.

The state machine is quite happy that anyone can be Russian, as long as they speak more or less Russian and have a little Russian culture. Because this opens up enormous opportunities for the import of “new Russians” and their rapid technological Russification - problems with the birth rate and demographics will disappear by themselves.

Makarevich effect

Or in another way - betrayal of famous people. Those people whose name is well-known and whose opinion is listened to by the broad masses. The word “betrayal” may seem too strong to some, but the essence of the phenomenon is exactly this: instead of supporting the theme of a historical approach to understanding Russianness, people form a conceptual background based on populist stuff. Thus, they further blur the topic and further complicate the possibility of answering the question: who are the Russians?

Most of our compatriots are gullible people who perceive a well-spoken word from a famous person as the truth in the first instance. And this is dangerous!

The “elite of society” has a minimal percentage of Russianness in its identity.

If you ask: why does the “elite” of society do this, then the answer will be found quite quickly - this very elite To put it quite rudely and bluntly, these people are mestizos, half-breeds who do not feel a personal and spiritual connection with the history of Rus' = father is Turkish, mother is Greek, and I am a Russian person. Such people have a connection with Russian history - learned from books, and not absorbed with mother's milk and father's moral teachings. Many of these people in the distant past changed their true names and surnames to Russian ones.

Turkish dad, Greek mom and Baba Yaga against

It is guaranteed that there will be people who will make every effort to troll the topic, that is, to interfere with or direct the essence of the process in a direction beneficial to them.

It is also guaranteed that there will be people who will suddenly fall into a stupor by asking themselves the question: and if I don’t fall under the concept of Russian? This will be a collapse of personal guidelines. And it is precisely this point of Russian identification that will be the most difficult. I can’t answer it yet, but I’ll definitely come up with a solution.

Among Russians, nationality is transmitted through the male line.

The misfortune of many people stems precisely from the Soviet approach to the formation of a single multinational people in the USSR: the mixing of the blood of father and mother automatically allowed one to classify oneself as Russian. Although among Russians, nationality is transmitted through the male line.

Almost conclusion

The eternal Russian question: who is to blame and? In order to answer it, you must first understand the intricacies of the concepts of ethnos, ethnic community, nation, nationality and, finally, people. And answer unequivocally who the Russians are from the point of view of these anthropological concepts.

Also, you need to agree that there is no such thing as “nationality”. We need to talk specifically about ethnicity (origin), people (a set of ethnic groups) and nation (belonging to a national state). If we use these three categories correctly, we can avoid conflicts during discussions about who the Russians are.

We need to talk specifically about... the people (a set of ethnic groups)...

How do you like this incident: it is quite possible to say a Russian of Georgian origin, a Russian Armenian, a Russian with Chechen blood, but it is impossible to say a Russian of Russian origin, a Russian Russian, a Russian with Russian blood. Why, you ask, but everything is simple: someone once took away the ethnic group from the Russian-Slavs, or this ethnic group was “accidentally” lost...

What if you do nothing?

Then in 20-30 years the films “Sadko” and “Morozko” will be remade, where, respectively Sadko will be dark-skinned, African-Russian, and Alyonushka will be Tajik with Turkish coarse hair. As was already done with Quiet Don, where the Cossack Gregory was played by a metrosexual homosexual.

More than 20 years ago, when Russian “peace-loving” policies reached my native Tajikistan and pitted people against each other, armed them, and oversaw a five-year civil war, I began to seriously think about what “Russian” was.

In those years, I decided to write a book and even came up with a title - “Compatriot”, with a dedication to Rogozin, Zatulin and Dugin. The same people who have been pitting Russians against non-Russians for the last 20 years are convincing them of the greatness of Russia and the need to restore, if not the USSR, then a semblance of the Russian Empire. Or at least some territorial formation that would give them a foothold in their eternal moaning about the “Russian spirit”, “Russian dream”, “Russian missionary”. They talked about it so much and often and say that you begin to look around in search of at least someone who is not Russian.

I have always been Russian, with a Russian mother and Russian father, but I have been speaking Tajik since I was a child, I studied the history of Central Asia for many years, wrote scientific articles, books, and did not quite understand why other Russians were always trying to remind me of my nationality. For what? I already knew it. Having grown up, I realized that they did not know the Tajik language and did not want to know it, and in order to justify their worthlessness, they emphasized their peculiarity or, as they also said, originality. It looked stupid.

I felt comfortable in Tajikistan, but they did not. When I called them colonialists, they were offended and in response called me a Russophobe. The strangest thing is that they continued to call me that in Russia, where I tried to understand my “historical homeland.” I wanted to see that same promoted good nature, but I saw something completely different. The most common ones are “churka”, “khachik”, “narrow-eyed” and of course the most favorite is “black man”. I deliberately walked around Moscow in an Afghan cap - a pakula, and the police officers I met looked at me warily, suspecting me of being a terrorist. I was comfortable and warm, and the policeman was afraid of just a cap.

The nationalism of modern Russia is not a modern disease, it is very old - imperial. Beginning in the 15th century, Russia seized land and assimilated the occupied population. The conquered were called natives, as the official designation of the inhabitants of the “acquired” territories, then she tried to expel her own, native, from them, condescendingly opening Russian-native schools, prohibiting native languages, but continuing to artificially separate them from the Russians themselves. Even in politics there was a deep divide - this is for the Russians, this is for the non-Russians, the natives. There was a Muslim faction in the State Duma of the Russian Empire, and from 1764 the Governing Senate granted the right to non-Russian peoples to retain their noble origins.

In the Russian Empire there was a peculiar form of attitude towards the conquered peoples, which is now commonly called fascism. It is enough to read the reports and memoirs of the generals who “gathered the Russian lands” of Central Asia and the Caucasus, in which definitions are often found - “semi-savage population of the outskirts”, “Caucasian natives”, “savages”. It was in the order of things, as a matter of course. Cossacks and Russians moved to the outskirts of the empire - “lines” were built, reliable defenders of the new territories. Therefore, if you look for the origins of Russian fascism, then it is there - during the occupation.

Russian publicist Ivan Solonevich then explained the essence of the policy as follows: “The Russian empire, since the time of the “initial chronicle,” was built along national lines. However, unlike the national states of the rest of the world, the Russian national idea always outgrew the tribal framework and became a supranational idea, just as Russian statehood has always been a supranational statehood - however, provided that it was the Russian idea of statehood, nation and culture that was and is now, the defining idea of the entire national state building of Russia.” Events show that nothing has changed in the understanding of “Russian statehood”.

Centuries later, Putin fell ill with the idea of a state. Before him there was a long period of Soviet power, which brought its “charms” to national politics. Soviet internationalism and friendship of peoples were officially proclaimed. But in fact, there was a clear gradation that divided people into titular and non-titular nations. A special political invention was the word “national” - national minority. There were quotas for national men entering universities and institutes; when entering the Komsomol and the party, the CPSU carefully ensured that talent was determined not by knowledge or skill, but by nationality.

Among my acquaintances and neighbors there were descendants of settlers in the 19th century, and there were also those who came to Tajikistan already under the communists. I didn’t see any difference - maybe the imperial old-timers knew 20-30 Tajik words more. But the Russian great power is the same, with the same degree of majesty and contempt for the natives, who actually lived on their land, and the natives were Russians. As their exceptionalism, the Russians said that they taught the Tajiks to pee standing up, and at the time of perestroika they began to feel like strangers, but as an argument they insisted on their exceptionalism, saying, “without us they will die.”

Everyday nationalism flourished in parallel with communist propaganda about the “brotherly family of nations,” absolutely not obeying, but most likely finding support from the KGB. The CPSU itself suffered from nationalism, sending exclusively Russians as second secretaries to the union republics.

All these years I continued to collect material for the planned book, trying to find an explanation for Russian nationalism. For example, why the noun “rus”, “ross”, “rusich”, “rusak” turned into the adjective “Russian”. The word itself became an ethnonym only from the 18th century, from the very time when the “acquisition of Russian lands” became a large-scale occupation of neighboring countries. In 1827, General Paskevich, having conquered part of the territory from Persia, called it Russian Armenia without hesitation. How then the Central Asian territories became Russian Turkestan. By the way, as it is now - Russian Donbass. In libraries you can find books with the titles “Russian China”, “Georgia - Mountainous Russia” and other works that fit into the understanding of the boundlessness of modern Russian geopolitical madness.

In search of the reasons for the worldwide love for their global significance, I tried to collect data on the number of Russians, known from historical sources. More or less, historians have collected statistics starting from the 15th century. In the Moscow Principality of the 15th century, the population was 2 million people, in the 16th century - 5.8 - 6.5 million, in the 17th century - 10.5-11 million, at the beginning of the 18th century - 13-15 million. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the population of the Russian Empire grew incredibly quickly: the increase in 1719 was 57%, in 1795 - 82%, in 1843 - 80%, in 1896 - about 55%. The number of Russians grows with the “acquisition of Russian lands,” which also means the acquisition of a population called Russian. It was then that a new ethnic group appeared - Russians, which is not necessarily Russians, Russians or Russians. Some of them conquered their ancestors in the 16th century, others in the 17th or later. A community of people speaking the same language has formed. The surnames Aksakov, Yusupov speak about their real origin. Karamzin, Fonvizin, Dal, Lermontov, Kutuzov, Saltykov, Przhevalsky, Bortnyansky, Razumovsky, Kantemir, Bagration. But they are all Russian, aren’t they?

Is this not the answer to the strange behavior of many “Russians” who treat other nationalities with contempt, with the hatred that is inherent in many neophytes? On the Internet you can find an academic description of the anthropology of Russian people, in which, among the terms “substrate” and “autosomal markers”, the secret of population growth of 80-82 percent is actually hidden. This could only happen in two cases - either the Russians invented and then lost a drug that was many times more effective than Viagra, or the conquered peoples began to be forced to call themselves Russians. More precisely, the same adjective “Russian”, which military leaders and politicians used to like to use before and now, and which has finally turned into a strange noun that breaks the rules of Russian grammar.

My search for an explanation is needed more by me than by most of those who call themselves Russians. I want to understand with whom to identify myself and what to do next - be offended by accusations of Russophobia or not pay attention. Every nation has a historical memory and qualities that are part of their mentality, and among them are the traits inherent in modern peoples, regardless of race or religion, responsibility for the past and anticipation of the future. Previously in Tajikistan, and now in Georgia, I like to listen to friends’ stories about their ancestors up to the fifth and even seventh generation. This is historical memory, which helps descendants evaluate themselves, their actions and misdeeds, and foresee their future. How many Russians can tell about their great-grandfathers?

Despite some discoveries that help to understand the behavior of the “Russians,” the main question that has long worried me remains: why do the “Russians” have such a strange attitude towards freedom? It’s not about the freedom to punch someone in the face or swear, but about the freedom that helps a person regulate his life and desire freedom for his neighbor. Where did the rejection of other people's freedom, the passion for any suppression of the love of freedom come from? Where does the hostility towards people who speak other languages and the reluctance to accept speakers of another culture come from? Where does this poorly hidden envy of other people's success come from? Why such aggression?

I, a Russian, still have many questions that I have been trying to answer most of my life. Especially now, when Russian politicians again hide behind the adjective “Russian” and commit crimes.

I, a Russian, feel ashamed and offended. It doesn’t occur to me to quarrel with my Ukrainian friends just because they want to be free, but more than 80 percent of Russians don’t want to. I once compared the texts of the anthems of Russia and Georgia: in Georgian the word tavisupleba - freedom is mentioned several times, but in Russian - only once and again as an adjective.

I didn’t want to write a pathetic text and question the emptiness. In the end, everyone must be responsible for their actions, regardless of nationality and political views. I was lucky, I lived in different countries, with different cultures and languages, I felt comfortable because it was interesting. Over the years I've realized that I don't want to be a faceless adjective, I rather like being a noun.

Oleg Panfilov, professor at Ilia State University (Georgia)

The Internet organized a “special Olympics” called “Fifteen questions for Russians.” I tried to participate.

In Internet jargon, “Special Olympics” is a public discussion of a problem that currently has no clear explanation. An explanation that would suit most debaters. Therefore, the result of such Olympiads is “a little predictable” - fierce, meaningless swearing, during which the participants, having forgotten about the purpose of the party, send each other in different directions using obscene language. And sometimes they even shoot each other “in real life” and continue to debate with their hands and feet. Since the Special Olympics was opened on a well-known ultra-liberal resource, its tasks lay on the surface. With mocking smiles, having started an ugly quarrel, once again showing the insignificance, ephemerality and artificiality of such a concept as “Russian”, once again proving that we do not exist. But the timing for the Olympics was chosen poorly - the “Russian spring”, dripping with blood, smoothly flowed into the bloody “Russian summer”. The Russian world entered the next stage of ethnogenesis, the veils fell away, the lame began to see, and questions were found for most of the Jesuit answers. I personally spent no more than ten minutes on this liberal puzzle.

1. Why do you consider yourself Russian? By purity of blood, by language, something else?

Our liberals, as soon as the question arises about who the Russians are, immediately begin to count leukocytes and impurities in the blood with such skill and dexterity that in Germany in 1938 they would have been taken to the commission on racial hygiene, even without prior interviews. Moreover, for leadership positions. It is curious that when determining Jewish, Tatar or Swedish nationality, liberals take their interlocutor’s word for it, without stooping to find out who he is, a Mischlingen or a Quateronese? So take my word for it, unless you are Nazis, of course. I am Russian.

2. Do you enjoy being Russian?

No, I don't. Awareness is a constant and cannot cause emotions.

3. What's good about Russians? What are the positive and unique features of national character?

Take a globe or geographical map. Look at the location and size of Russia and get answers to all your questions.

4.What does the Russian landscape look like? Will you kiss the Kamchatka sand in patriotic delight? And the wet Taimyr tundra? Where are the boundaries of the native? Kunashir, Shikotan - native land?

I, with a torn meniscus and with great delight, walked through the Taimyr tundra for about a hundred kilometers - I just walked and couldn’t stop. This place was called Middendorf Bay, who was undoubtedly a Russian man, since the Russian lands were named after him and in honor of him. Moreover, for this honor - to expand the borders of the Russian world, the great traveler gave his life. Moreover, in terrible torment, stretched out over many months. Perhaps Middendorf did not want to be Russian - in those years, people serving Russia were rarely asked such stupid questions. But the Russian world is contagious with its centripetalism. You can be a Georgian prince all your life and remain a great Russian commander for centuries. This paradox infuriates representatives of self-contained ethnic groups and nations who are unfriendly to Russia. Therefore, the “borders of the native” depend only on a specific historical period.

5.What is our historical tragedy?

We have already experienced our historical tragedy - this is the rejection of national identity in favor of false and crafty truths brought from outside. The story is old, with a logical ending - the Russians will remake everything for themselves, in the way that suits them. One can recall Byzantine Christianity. The same thing awaits Western liberalism, as a non-national and godless aggressive concept that protects individualism and vices. He will stay in our hut, but you won’t recognize him.

6.When was our Golden Age?

Russia never had a golden age. The Golden Age is an ethnos in the phase of obscuration, after which decay, death, and dissolution sets in. Russia is still far from retirement.

7. Who is our main character? Oslyabya? Pozharsky? Suvorov? Zhukov?

Our main character is the Unknown Soldier, who lies near the Kremlin wall. Avatar or symbol of everyone who gave their lives for our country.

8. Who is our main prophet?

Tyutchev: “You can’t understand Russia with your mind.” Moreover, the Slavophile Tyutchev meant the rational Western mind, which does not work in our civilization.

9.What is our national lullaby?

- “Tired toys sleep,” and try to prove that this is not so.

10. What is our national dance? The Irish dance the jig, the Caucasians dance the lezginka, the Jews dance the freylekhs, but what about us?

And we don’t need to assert ourselves with the help of a certain set of rhythmic body movements. We dance what we want. We don’t worry about this at all. We, you see, already have a slightly different, not archaic, system of values. Not a tribal community with complexes of rituals. We have a Church for rituals and ceremonies, but dancing is prohibited there, and those who did not understand this were explained clearly.

11. What is our national game?

Hide and seek, “Cossack robbers”, “war game”. Here we are leading in the adult competition. Chess, checkers, dominoes. Recently, backgammon has become another national game.

12.What is our national dress? How would you dress for a Russian-style party?

A quilted jacket, a St. George ribbon in the buttonhole, kirzachi and a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

13. What is our national dish?

What one national dish can a country have that lies on one-sixth of the continent's landmass? And Russians live everywhere. Specify the time zone, region, climate zone.

14. What kind of death is considered worthy?

For my friends, for the land, for my faith. Everyone has something to choose from.

15. Which nations are our brothers?