Centrifugal Forces?: Russia’s Regional Identities and Initiatives

Early in 2013 the Moscow talk show Shkola Praktika with Mikhail Shvydkoi held a discussion on the assertion that “The Future Belongs to the Provinces.”1 From the center’s point of view the provinces have garnered new, if not unprecedented, attention. The talk show participants concurred that, although in Moscow one might enjoy higher earnings and greater variety of work, in the provinces one might enjoy a more satisfying sense of community. While historically Russia’s provinces have been dismissed as boring and derivative, now that perception appears to have flipped.2 The recently murdered Nizhnii Novgorod politician Boris Nemtsov famously boasted, “I am a provincial,” which was meant to assure his following that he was honest and ethical.3 The point here is that the image of Russia’s provinces and regions—in other words, all areas beyond Russia’s two capital cities—became quite prominent in the national discourse during the years when the Soviet Union was dissolving. And now, in the early 21st century the provinces and regions have continued to play an important role despite federal efforts to coopt resources and power. Historically regions were outlying areas inhabited by people of other ethnic background but colonized by Russians, typically acting on behalf of the Russian state. Both ethnic Russian and non-Russian residents have at times have organized to present an economic and political threat to the center. In contrast, provinces traditionally are areas in European Russia viewed as gray,