Parts of this article (those related to Modern Russia) need to be updated. The reason given is: The 2022 invasion of Ukraine and efforts of russification in annexed territories by Russia in Ukraine. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2022)
Measures to increase the influence of Russian culture and language
For Russification of a computer, see Computer Russification. For influence of Russian on other languages as a linguistic phenomenon, see Russianism.
Cityscape of Polotsk from 1812, 1912 and 2006. The majority of historical buildings in Belarus built during the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were demolished by Tsarist and Soviet authorities.[citation needed]
Russification (Russian: русификация, romanized: rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian culture and the Russian language.
In a historical sense, the term refers to both official and unofficial policies of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union concerning their national constituents and to national minorities in Russia, aimed at Russian domination and hegemony.
The major areas of Russification are politics and culture. In politics, an element of Russification is assigning Russian nationals to lead administrative positions in national institutions. In culture, Russification primarily amounts to the domination of the Russian language in official business and the strong influence of the Russian language on national idioms. The shifts in demographics in favour of the ethnic Russian population are sometimes considered a form of Russification as well.
Analytically, it is helpful to distinguish Russification, as a process of changing one's ethnic self-label or identity from a non-Russian ethnonym to Russian, from Russianization, the spread of the Russian language, culture, and people into non-Russian cultures and regions, distinct also from Sovietization or the imposition of institutional forms established by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union throughout the territory ruled by that party.[1] In this sense, although Russification is usually conflated across Russification, Russianization, and Russian-led Sovietization, each can be considered a distinct process. Russianization and Sovietization, for example, did not automatically lead to Russification – a change in language or self-identity of non-Russian people to being Russian. Thus, despite long exposure to the Russian language and culture, as well as to Sovietization, at the end of the Soviet era, non-Russians were on the verge of becoming a majority of the population in the Soviet Union.[2]
^Vernon V. Aspaturian, "The Non-Russian Peoples," in Allen Kassof, Ed., Prospects for Soviet Society (New York: Praeger, 1968): 143–198. Aspaturian also distinguished both Russianization and Russification from Sovietization, the process of spreading Soviet institutions and the Soviet socialist restructuring of social and economic relations in accordance with the ruling Communist Party's vision. (Aspaturian was a Soviet studies specialist, Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of political science and former director of the Slavic and Soviet Language and Area Center at Pennsylvania State University.)
^Barbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver,"Demographic Sources of the Changing Ethnic Composition of the Soviet Union," Population and Development Review 15, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 609–656.
Russification (Russian: русификация, romanized: rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily...
The policy of Russification of Finland (Finnish: sortokaudet / sortovuodet, lit. 'times/years of oppression'; Russian: Русификация Финляндии, romanized: Rusifikatsiya...
The Russification of Belarus (Belarusian: Русіфікацыя Беларусі, romanized: Rusifikatsyya Byelarusi; Russian: Русификация Беларуси, romanized: Rusifikatsiya...
In computing, Russification involves the localization of computers and software, allowing the user interface of a computer and its software to communicate...
The Russification of Ukraine (Ukrainian: зросійщення України; Russian: русификация Украины) was a system of measures, actions and legislations undertaken...
industrializing economy. Tensions increased after Saint Petersburg adopted Russification policies in 1898; the new circumstances saw the reduction of Finnish...
decree of Nicholas II prohibition of the Ukrainian press. 1914, 1916 – Russification campaign in western Ukraine, the prohibition of the Ukrainian word,...
peoples: their language, culture and historical memory, lost due to Russification. The term may also refer to the marginalization of the Russian language...
allotted land. Ethnic and national minorities resented the policy of "Russification" of the Empire: this represented discrimination and repression against...
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (15 April [O.S. 3 April] 1894 – 11 September 1971) was First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953...
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; 18 December [O.S. 6 December] 1878 – 5 March 1953) was a Soviet revolutionary and...
political and judicial rights, with Russification being imposed on its schools and courts. However, Russification policies in Poland, Finland and among...
settlement by Russians. The tsarist autocracy established a policy of Russification, suppressing the use of the Ukrainian language and curtailing the Ukrainian...
Ukrainian language developed in the territory of present-day Ukraine. Russification saw the Ukrainian language banned as a subject from schools and as a...
trends of Russification, while Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko and the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin reintroduced Russification policies in...
The Russification of Poland (Polish: rusyfikacja na ziemiach polskich; Russian: Русификация Польши, romanized: Rusifikacija Poljši) was an intense process...
Alexander III in 1881 marked the beginning of a period of more rigid Russification; the previous Baltic civil and criminal codes were replaced with Russian...
Estonia that during the period of Soviet occupation underwent extensive russification of its ethnic composition due to large influx of immigrants from Russia...
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former actor who has been serving as the sixth president of Ukraine...
official language in the Baltic provinces, as part of the policy of Russification of the non-Russian-speaking territories of the Russian Empire, including...
The siege of Mariupol began on 24 February 2022 and lasted until 20 May, as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It saw fighting between the Russian...
words. However, in the 1880s, when Czar Alexander III came into power, Russification started. According to the 1897 Imperial Russian Census, there were 505...
Sovietization of the Baltic states Soviet patriotism Soviet empire Russification Korenizatsiia National delimitation in the Soviet Union С. Кульчицький...
to be balanced by greater Russianization, though perhaps not overt Russification or attempts to assimilate the minorities. By this time, non-Russians...
The "great Russification program" was a plan for new laws concerning the Grand Duchy of Finland made during the second period of oppression from 1912...
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