Between Kin and Compatriots: Contradicting Goals of Russia’s Kin-Sate Nationalism

The Russian Federation is the kin-state of millions of Russians residing in the Near Abroad. Being a powerful patron of the Russian kin its policies have raised questions for policymakers and scholars alike pertaining to the proliferation of its kin-state policies. This paper challenges the assumption that is frequently made about Russia, namely that kin state nationalism presents a coherent set of policies addressed to its kin abroad. Russia’s kin state nationalism is not entirely, if at all, about its kin. Unlike other kin-states, Russia sees itself as a patron of its kin, compatriots, and the Russian World. To make this argument this paper focuses on a preliminary analysis of: (1) Russia’s main Foreign and Migration policies over the past two decades, and (2) specifying some of the most salient social and political linkages Russia fostered with its kin, compatriots and those ascribed to the Russian World in general.