Russia inherited from the USSR a complex system of territorial autonomies, now overlaid with non territorial "cultural" autonomies on the Austro-Marxist model. Recent events in the now violent relations between Ukraine and Russia have thrown this into sharp relief. From 1996 Ukraine managed to head off the irredentist movement of Russians in Crimea by creating an "Autonomous Republic of Crimea" within a unitary state. Russia now insists that Ukraine must adopt a federative structure to accommodate the Russian speakers in Donetsk and Luhansk. This paper analyses and draws out the underlying currents of development.
