Between Russians and Ukrainians: Transformation of Ethnic Identity of Persons with Russian-Ukrainian Ethnicity in Russia

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the results of an empirical study carried out among residents with Russian-Ukrainian identity in several regions of Russia in 2020. The purpose of the article is to study the stability of the ethnic selfconsciousness of Russian-Ukrainian bi-ethnics and the reasons for its transformation. The study revealed that this ethnic group is divided into two approximately equal subgroups: those who always had a feeling of dual ethnicity, and those whose ratio of the Russian and Ukrainian components of ethnicity changed under the influence of various factors. Respondents name the growth factors of the Russian component of their ethnicity as follows: the influence of the Russian-speaking environment, as a rule, due to migration; education in Russian and the resulting feeling of greater social prestige of Russianness; change of ethnicity in documents, etc. The growth factors of the Ukrainian component of ethnicity are: interest in origin, «roots»; visiting Ukraine and communicating with relatives in there; interest in Ukrainian culture; social and political events, etc.