Lithuanian nationalism and the situation of the Russians in the Lithuanian Re-public during the post-Soviet period

Author(s):  V.V. Frolov, candidate of Sciences, Pskov State University, Pskov, Russia, frolov1406@mail.ru

Issue:  Volume 46, № 3

Rubric:  Topical issues of political science

Annotation:  At present, the position of the Russian and Russian-speaking population is one of the most important problems of the domestic and foreign policy of the Baltic States and a significant aspect of their relations with the Rus-sian Federation. Within the framework of building independent states in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the nationalist elites, with the support of the United States and a number of countries of the European Union, are actively implementing projects to build their national (ethnocratic) states. The means of implementing such projects was the policy of ousting a large mass of non-titular ethnic groups (primarily the Russian and Russian-speaking population) abroad and assimilating the remaining ones. The article discusses and analyzes the char-acteristics of Lithuanian nationalism and the situation of the Russian population in the Republic of Lithuania of the post-Soviet period. Particular attention is paid to the following aspects of discrimination of the Russian-speaking population of Lithuania: the systematic closure of Russian-language schools, the narrowing of the space of the Russian language, falsification of national history, «anti-Soviet legislation», criminalization of the denial of «Soviet occupation». The study concludes that, at present, the Lithuanian authorities continue to cre-ate their nationalist pseudo-legal and pseudo-democratic state and do not see in this education a place for Rus-sians whose ancestors once helped Lithuania to regain Vilnius, liberated its territory from the Nazi occupation, took an active part in the industrialization of the economy of this Baltic republic, turning the Lithuanian SSR into one of the most industrialized territories of the Soviet state.

Keywords:  nationalism, discrimination, ethnocratic state, national minorities, Russian diaspora, cultural self-identity, Lithuania.

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