The disintegration of the USSR and Russians in the republics

Some 60 million former Soviet citizens live outside their own national‐state areas, including more than 25 million Russians. The position of these Russians, many of whom were thought to be potential migrants, became a focus of public and political attention in the early 1990s. At the end of 1991 more than half of these Russians wished to remain citizens of the USSR, and only in the Baltic republics did those wishing to obtain local citizenship reach a clear majority. Russians in the non‐Russian republics are however a heterogeneous group; their attitude towards other national groups and towards Russia itself depends upon their living conditions, knowledge of the local language, and degree of political integration.