The place of the “Slavic world” image in the formation of the contemporary Russian identity

The article is devoted to the role of the image of the “Slavic world” in the formation of the Russian national-state identity, which is characterized as an integrated image of “us”, “ours” crystallized in mass consciousness (including the axiological, temporal, symbolic dimensions). This image is a complex politico-psychological and socio-cultural construct, dynamics of which is due to both the transformation of the political system of modern Russia and a wide complex of factors related to Russian history and culture. Initially, the authors pay attention to the construction of the idea of the “Slavic world” in the 19th century, which was built on the imperative of the “unity of the Slavic peoples”. At the same time, the then image of the “Slavic world” can be considered as an emotional construct very weakly associated with geopolitical realities. The second part of the article is devoted to the revival of the problems of the “Slavic world” in the 1990s - early 2000s, which was associated with the collapse of the USSR and the crisis of the national-state identity in the “new Russia”, the destruction of the fundamental values of society, images of the past and the future. It was then that the Russian political elites periodically appealed to the idea of “Slavic unity” for tactic goals (for example, attempts to create a “union state” with Belarus at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s). Analyzing the contemporary place of the “Slavic world” in Russian political discourse, the authors note that the events of 2013-2018 (“Euromaidan”, conflict in the Donbas, crisis in relations with Belarus) outlined its peripheral nature. They also demonstrate the extreme amorphousness and cognitive poverty of the “image of the Slavic world” in the political consciousness of Russian citizens. Discussing the perspectives for the actualization of the concept of the “Slavic world” in Russian political discourse, the authors note that in Russia interest in “Slavic unity” increases in the conditions of the crisis of the national-state identity. However, the historical experience of the past century and a half shows that the integration potential of the image of the “Slavic world” is not enough to act as a “restructuring point” for the Russian national-state identity.

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