National Policy of Russia at Different Stages of State Development: Historical and Legal Aspect

Relevance. The Russian Federation is a multinational and multi–confessional country with more than a thousand years of development experience. According to some statistical studies, currently representatives of more than 200 nationalities live in the Russian state, having their own distinctive, unique culture, linguistic, ethnic characteristics. The multiethnic composition of the population of the modern Russian state necessitates the development of an effective legal mechanism for regulating the national issue in the country. However, it is impossible to achieve this goal without a comprehensive study of the historical foundations of the evolution of state national policy in Russia. In this connection, we consider it relevant to analyze the legislative experience of regulating interethnic relations in the Russian state, which has the status of a multi-confessional and multinational country at all stages of its development.

The purpose of the study is a historical and legal analysis of the evolution of the national state policy of Russia in the context of changes in society and the state at different stages of historical development.

Objectives: to identify the features of the legal regulation of interethnic relations in Russia in the prerevolutionary period; to analyze the experience of solving the national question in the USSR; to determine the main goals of the implementation of national state policy in the Russian Federation and priorities of legal national policy at the present stage of development of the Russian state.

Methodology. In the process of working on the study, the following methods were used: the method of synthesis, analysis, generalization, systematization, comparative legal and chronological methods.

The results of the study have important theoretical and practical significance. The conclusions obtained in the work are able to enrich the legal science with new knowledge of the sphere, as well as find application in the further improvement of the domestic national state policy.

Conclusion. Currently, Russia has developed a systematic approach to solving the national issue, legal mechanisms for regulating interethnic relations have been developed, taking into account the centuries-old experience of the history of Russia's development, which has the status of a multinational country at all stages of the evolution of statehood.

1. Kochergina M. G. Sovremennaya Rossiya: poisk optimal'noj ideologii [Modern Russia: search for optimal ideology]. Pro nunc, 2017, no. 1 (17), pp. 19–24.

2. Makoeva E. R., Kurashinova A. H. Rossiyskaya naciya edinoe celoe [The Russian nation is a single whole]. Pravo i upravlenie = Law and Management, 2022, no. 10, pp. 13–15.

3. Mineeva E. N. Nacional'no-territorial'nye obrazovaniya i istoricheskaya obuslovlennost' mezhjetnicheskih otnoshenij v Rossijskoj Federacii na sovremennom etape [National-territorial formations and historical conditionality of interethnic relations in the Russian Federation at the present stage]. Vestnik Cherepoveckogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta = Bulletin of Cherepovets State University, 2013, no. 4, pp. 43–51.

4. Katkov M. N. Znachenie nacional'noj politiki dlya Rossii [The significance of national policy for Russia]. Moskovskie vedomosti, 1864, no. 174. Available at: http://dugward.ru/library/katkov/katkov_znachenie_nacional-noy_politiki.html (accessed 04.09.2023).

5. Myuller A. M., Ryabova A. L., Sablina M. A. Nacional'naya politika Aleksandra III [The national policy of Alexander III]. Rossiya v global'nom mire = Russia in the global world, 2017, no.11 (34), pp. 201–208.

6. Danilyuk M. Ju., Voloshhenko I. I., Danilyuk A. A. Evolyuciya konceptual'nyh podhodov v razrabotke nacional'noj politiki Rossii: istoricheskij aspekt [Evolution of conceptual approaches in the development of national policy of Russia: historical aspect]. Gosudarstvennoe i municipal'noe upravlenie. Uchenye zapiski = State and municipal administration. Scientific notes, 2017, no. 2, pp. 119–126.

7. Gapurov Sh. A., Bugaev A. M., Chernous V. V. K 150-letiyu okonchaniya Kavkazskoj vojny: o hronologii, prichinah i soderzhanii [To the 150th anniversary of the end of the Caucasian War: on chronology, causes and content]. Nauchnaya mysl' Kavkaza = Scientific Thought of the Caucasus, 2014, no. 4 (80), pp. 90–100.

8. Gapurov Sh. A., Akaev V. H., Chernous V. V. Kavkazskaya politika Rossii v nachale XIX veka: imperator i namestniki [Caucasian policy of Russia at the beginning of the XIX century: the emperor and the governors]. Nauchnaya mysl' Kavkaza = Scientific thought of the Caucasus, 2015, no. 2 (82), pp. 79–88.

9. Vysochajshe utverzhdyonnoe Polozhenie o pravah kavkazskih tuzemcev, postupayushchih po dobrovol'nomu zhelaniyu na sluzhbu v regulyarnye vojska ot 5 aprelya 1864 g. [The most highly approved Regulation on the rights of Caucasian natives who voluntarily enter the service in the regular troops of April 5, 1864]. Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossijskoj imperii [The Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire]. Collection 2, 1864, vol. 39, st. 40743.

10. Kul'shanova A. A. K probleme teorii i praktiki nacional'nogo voprosa v SSSR [To the problem of theory and practice of the national question in the USSR]. Problemy nauki = Problems of Science, 2017, no. 11 (93), pp. 23–25.

11. Alfimcev V. N. Osnovnye etapy konstitucionno-pravovogo regulirovaniya nacional'nogo voprosa v Rossii [The main stages of constitutional and legal regulation of the national question in Russia]. Lex Russica, 2016, no. 8 (117), pp. 141–151.

12. Hamhoev R. M. Nacional'naya politika v RSFSR [National policy in the RSFSR]. Sociologiya vlasti = Sociology of Power, 2011, no. 4, pp. 148–155.

13. Bukanova R. G. Osnovnoj princip gosudarstvennogo edinstva RSFSR i SSSR [The basic principle of state unity of the RSFSR and the USSR]. Agrarnoe i zemel'noe pravo = Agrarian and land law, 2022, no. 11 (215), pp. 6–7.

14. Sikevich Z. V. Protivorechiya sovetskoj nacional'noj politiki: razmyshleniya eksperta [Contradictions of Soviet national policy: reflections of an expert]. Vestnik SanktPeterburgskogo universiteta. Sociologiya = Bulletin of St. Petersburg University. Sociology, 2017, no. 3, pp. 315–328.

15. Bugaj N. F. Osnovy nacional'noj politiki Rossii v 1920 – vtoroj polovine 1980-h godov: transformaciya, realizaciya, prioritety [Fundamentals of Russia's national policy in the 1920s – the second half of the 1980s: transformation, implementation, priorities]. Arhont, 2019, no. 1 (10), pp. 4–20.

16. Goldin V. I., Gagkuev R. G. 100 let SSSR i 30 let bez SSSR: uroki istorii i sovremennost' (obzor) [100 years of the USSR and 30 years without the USSR: lessons of history and modernity (review)]. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal'nogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye i social'nye nauki = Bulletin of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University. Series: Humanities and Social Sciences, 2022, no. 6, pp. 25–37.

17. Shorova M. B. Aktualizaciya nacional'nogo voprosa v SSSR v usloviyah obshhestvenno-politicheskih preobrazovanij vtoroj poloviny 1980-h gg [Actualization of the national question in the USSR in the conditions of socio-political transformations of the second half of the 1980s]. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal'nogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye i social'nye nauki = Bulletin of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University. Series: Humanities and Social Sciences, 2018, no. 55, pp. 62–66.

18. Koz'menko V. M., Tsaj V. I. Evolyuciya mezhnatsional'nyh otnoshenij i natsional'noj politiki v SSSR v 1920-h − 1991 g. [Evolution of interethnic relations and national policy in the USSR in the 1920s − 1991]. Vestnik RUDN. Istoriya Rossii = Bulletin of the RUDN. The history of Russia, 2012, no. 2, pp. 120–131.

19. Myakshev A. P. Natsional'nye elity v pozdnem SSSR (1985-1991 gody): ot krizisa mezhetnicheskogo doveriya k razvalu edinogo gosudarstva [National elites in the late USSR (1985- 1991): from the crisis of interethnic trust to the collapse of a single state]. Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Novaya seriya. Seriya Istoriya. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya = Proce-edings of the Saratov University. A new series. History series. International relations, 2017, no. 3, pp. 321– 328.

20. Musaelyan L. A. Natsional'nyj vopros v Rossii: opyt proshlogo i nekotorye aspekty ego sovremennogo politiko-pravovogo resheniya [The national question in Russia: the experience of the past and some aspects of its modern political and legal solution]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Yuridicheskie nauki = Bulletin of Perm University. Legal sciences, 2010, no. 4, pp. 32–48.

21. Bekirova F. S. Konstitutsionno-pravovoe regulirovanie natsional'nogo voprosa v Rossii i mezhdunarodnom prave [Constitutional and legal regulation of the national question in Russia and international law]. Severo-Kavkazskij yuridicheskij vestnik = North Caucasian Legal Bulletin, 2017, no. 3, pp. 97–103.