
Dugin says what "mines" were attempted to be planted in Russia
The President of Russia approved the national policy strategy until 2036. Dugin said that some people had tried to plant certain "mines" in Russia.
Starting from January 1, 2026, the new version of the National Ethnic Policy Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2036 will officially take effect. The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed the relevant presidential decree the day before. Alexander Dugin, director of the "Tsargrad" Institute and a philosopher, commented on this document.
Content of the 2036 Strategy
The document consists of 6 chapters and includes 61 provisions. It specifically outlines the current state of ethnic and inter-ethnic relations in Russia, defines the goals, principles, and priority directions of the national ethnic policy, elaborates on the implementation pathways of the ethnic policy in various regions of Russia, as well as the implementation phases and key indicators of the strategy.
This strategy is positioned as a "turning point," marking a shift from "declarative expressions" to a "quantifiable indicator system." Its core innovation lies in proposing the concept of a "civilization state," a state form coalesced by a "common cultural code." This setting constructs the narrative of "Russia as a unique civilization," emphasizing that Russia must follow its own distinctive development path and maintain its civilizational attributes. Introducing 9 quantifiable indicators (such as citizen identity) aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the policy and create a "scientific precision management" in this field.
The core idea of the document is "priority of Russian citizenship identity." The document requires authorities to guide citizens to first establish the identity of "Russians," and then the identity of "specific ethnic or regional residents." By 2036, the citizen identity rate should not be less than 95%, which becomes the core work direction for all levels of government. At the same time, the strategy attempts to avoid accusations of "cultural assimilation," emphasizing that it will ensure the survival of ethnic cultural diversity.
"The role of the Russian nation in the state-building process" is the foundation of national unity. The strategy clearly defines the "state-building function" of the Russian nation and puts support for Russian culture into practice. The document sets a key indicator: no less than 50% of ethnic cultural activities must be themed around Russian culture. This setting is not interpreted as "harming the interests of other nations," but rather as a "necessary condition for promoting harmonious ethnic relations"—according to the document's logic, strengthening the Russian nation as the "core" will promote the stability and consolidation of the entire federation. Criticism of the "meaningless rice festival" also implies a shift in the focus of ethnic cultural policy.
"Russophobia" (anti-Russian sentiment) has been formally listed as a national security threat. This narrative binds domestic stability with external confrontation, claiming that "hate ideology" is a weapon used by external forces and their "agents" within Russia. Combating Russophobia is defined as a national task, providing legitimacy for taking tough measures against "local nationalists and separatists." Thus, maintaining national unity and protecting the Russian nation, its language, and culture are equated.

Advantages of the Document
Philosopher Alexander Dugin studied the new version of the National Ethnic Policy Strategy and came to the following conclusion: the current document is superior to the previous version in many aspects because it clearly highlights the most essential principle characteristics.
Firstly, the strategy explicitly writes and establishes the positioning of "Russia as a civilization state." Now, this has become the foundational principle supporting all other policy contents.
Secondly, the document emphasizes the importance of the Russian nation (Russian ethnicity) as the "core force in building the state, society, and cultural life of Russia." In other words, the Russian ethnicity is the "core" of the people of the country. This point is repeatedly emphasized in the document. At the same time, the document points out the leading role of the Russian ethnicity in the process of social and national construction.
Thirdly, a very correct and critical detail is that after the term "inter-ethnic" (межнациональный), it is marked with parentheses as "ethnic" (межэтнический). Dugin pointed out that in most cases, the term "national" (национальный) is emphasized as "ethnic" (этнический).

Alexander Dugin
Deep Meaning of Expression Characteristics
So the question is, why is this repeated expression used? The director of the "Tsargrad" Institute explained: "This stems from the national policy during Lenin's era and the careless use of the 'nation' (нация) concept before the revolution, leading to ambiguity in the term 'nation'."
He further pointed out: "Now, the term 'nation' (нация) refers both to a political concept and a political community. This leads to the term 'national republic' (национальная республика), which is equivalent to 'sovereign republic,' i.e., a republic not subject to any other power. And 'nation' (нация) primarily means belonging to a sovereign state."

Dugin also explained that the Bolsheviks, in order to explain their theory that "the Soviet people are a multi-ethnic community," even gave political attributes to those ethnic groups that historically formed on the territory of the Russian Empire — although this setting was quickly discarded in Stalin's national policy.
He said: "Initially (during the revolution), the idea was to break up the Russian Empire into multiple bourgeois nation-states, and the term 'nation' (нация) began to be used in this way. However, later, due to the decision of the Soviet regime to limit territorial adjustments only to the Baltic region and not to further split, and the Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union implementing unified control over all territories of the former Russian Empire under Soviet Russia, those 'nations that had not yet formed, had not appeared, and had never existed' were reclassified as 'ethnicities' (национальность) from a historical perspective."
This philosopher sorted out the confusion of this concept: "It is precisely from here that the term 'nation' (нация) became ambiguous — on one hand referring to a political concept, and on the other hand referring to an ethnic concept."

Dugin pointed out that the new strategy emphasizes everywhere that "ethnicity" (национальность) is the "ethnic group" (этнос). "But since there is already the concept of 'ethnicity' (этнос), why use 'ethnicity' (национальность)? It would be better to directly use 'ethnic' (этнический), 'ethnic culture' (этнокультурный), without using terms like 'inter-ethnic' (межнациональный). Because the literal meaning of 'inter-ethnic' (межнациональный) is 'inter-state' (межгосударственный), implying the existence of two or more sovereign political entities."
He believes that this expression issue is a product of the "Bolshevik legacy" and the "imprecise use of the term 'nation' (нация)" during the imperial period — during the empire, there was no such thing as a "nation" (нация), only "the Russian people" and "the Russian ethnicity," which are different concepts. "Therefore, the document corrected many problems caused by the use of the words 'nation' (нация), 'ethnicity' (национальность), etc. — at least by clarifying that they refer to ethnic groups rather than political entities, some issues have been corrected. This is good," Dugin said, expressing his approval.

Liberal "Mines"
However, Dugin added that even with frequent clarifications, the retention of terms such as "national" (национальный), "multi-national" (многонациональный), and "inter-national" (межнациональный) could still cause misunderstandings and leave space for "separatist interpretations."
He said: "This undoubtedly raises doubts about whether concepts such as 'citizen nation' (гражданская нация) and 'Russian nation' (российская нация) are still retained. And this (retention) is essentially a liberal project, which is destructive."
Dugin pointed out: "Those who previously supported this (liberal) project have mostly left Russia; and those who remain domestically have also gone underground." He asserted: "This is a 'fifth column' (internal traitor forces) project, whose purpose is to push out the concepts of 'the Russian people' and 'the cultures of various nationalities,' incorporating everything into the Western model."

Dugin believes that retaining terms such as "citizen nation" and "Russian nation" in the document is a "oversight," indicating that "there are still members of the 'fifth column' active within the country when formulating this crucial strategic normative document, attempting to implement destructive and subversive principles."
He concluded: "These people have clear identities and distinct characteristics. Unfortunately, their actions of undermining Russian unity have not received the deserved reckoning. However, their influence is obviously declining."
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7577194373268505134/
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