Capitals of Siberian Autonomous Regions – the Mission of Nation-building (Dynamics of Functions, Status and Ethnization of Urban Space)

The implementation of the Soviet nation-building project assumed the decisive role of cities in the formation of nations - an urban product by definition. Within the framework of the ideology of institutionalization of ethnicity, they were appointed capitals of the created national autonomies and were endowed with the appropriate mission and resources. For the emerging or prearranged nations of Siberia those were either Russian cities in terms of population or new cities grown for this purpose on the basis of Russian villages. The rooting policy a tool for cultivating a titular cultural and political elite in them, building an urban infrastructure adequate to the status of the national capital. In the process of implementing this mission, cities with a special culture of relationships have been formed, with a greater regulating role of ethnicity than in ordinary capital cities. The general genesis predetermined the similarity of the capitals of the Siberian autonomous regions considered in the article - Ulan-Ude, Kyzyl, Abakan, Gorno-Altaisk. No less clearly visible are the differences that demonstrate the different results of the implementation of the standard national program. The reasons for these differences were starting resources (the presence of a city and an urban tradition, a European-educated titular elite with experience in political and cultural mobilization), a demographic factor, and a different role in national modernization development.