Dilemma of Russian nationalism: "Imperial" and Ethnic Nationalism in Post-Soviet Russia

The article analyzes trajectories and prospects of the Russian nationalism. Having identified two types of nationalism in Russia - "imperial" and ethnic, and a negative relationship between the extent of their prevalence, E. Ponarin and M. Komin hypothesize that after 2014 the Russian authorities, whose national identity policy used to be contradictory, opted for "imperial" nationalism. Several factors are at play: not only a shift in the official policy towards consolidating "imperial" nationalism, but also the increased susceptibility of masses to anti-Americanism under the influence of the events in Ukraine, the revival of a superpower image of Russia after the military operation in Syria, as well as the gradual erosion of the importance of an ethnic "other".