Russia Before and After Crimea : Nationalism and Identity, 2010–2017

Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 brought East–West relations to a low. But, by selling the annexation in starkly nationalist terms to grassroots nationalists, Putin’s popularity reached record heights. This volume examines the interactions and tensions between state and societal nationalisms before and after the annexation.

Russia''s annexation of Crimea in 2014 marked a watershed in post-Cold War European history and brought East-West relations to a low. At the same time, by selling this fateful action in starkly nationalist language, the Putin regime achieved record-high popularity.

This book shows how, after the large-scale 2011-13 anti-Putin demonstrations in major Russian cities and the parallel rise in xenophobia related to the Kremlin''s perceived inability to deal with the influx of Central Asian labour migrants, the annexation of Crimea generated strong ''rallying around the nation'' and ''rallying around the leader'' effects.

The contributors to this collection go beyond the news headlines to focus on overlooked aspects of Russian society such as intellectual racism and growing xenophobia. These developments are contextualised with an overview of Russian nationalism: state-led, grassroots and the tensions between the two.