Russian world

The "Russian world" (Russian: русский мир, romanized: rússkiy mir) is a concept and a political doctrine usually defined as the sphere of military, political and cultural influence of Russia. It is a vague term, mostly used to refer to communities with a historical, cultural, or spiritual tie to Russia. This can include all ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in neighboring states, as well as those who belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. The concept of the "Russian world" is linked to Russian neo-imperialism. President Vladimir Putin established the government-funded Russkiy Mir Foundation to foster the idea of the "Russian world" abroad. The concept is sometimes also called the Pax Russica, as a counterweight to the Pax Americana after WWII.

History

Philologist Andrey Desnitsky analyzed the National Corpus of the Russian Language and established that the expression "Russian world" was used only sporadically before 1830s. Later the term started being used more frequently, as he wrote, "They seem to be characteristic of the romantic European nationalisms of that period when people within the same nation state (or longing for such a state, as was the case in Germany) started to look for a common identity based on ethnicity and culture. Similar concepts can be found in other languages, like Deutschtum in German or Hispanidad in Spanish. Still later, up until World War I the term became a commonplace, mostly used as an apposition to other nations, "usually without any jingoism". After the Russian Revolution the expression became nearly obsolete, only to resurface in Kremlin propaganda since the early 21st century.