Laboratory for the Russian World
Self-Image and Nation in Donbas
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The self-image of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” has changed since 2014. Official documents and schoolbooks initially propagated a multi-ethnic regionalism to justify secession from Ukraine. With the “Russian Donbas” doctrine, the idea that the People’s Republic belonged to the “Russian World” came to the fore. However, what this world meant remained unclear. Some saw it in the tradition of the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union. An ethno-national interpretation has prevailed. Today, Russian ethnonationalism dominates not only the “People’s Republic” but even multinational Russia.
(Osteuropa 5/2025, pp. 115–123)