Russian nationalism in the period of Vladimir V. Putin (2000-2018)

The subject of this study is the understanding of nationalism carried out during the Russian V. Putin period. In this study, it is aimed to examine the nationalism understanding of the Putin period by taking into account the theories of nationalism and the history of Russia. Considering that there are very few studies on Russian nationalism made for different periods and the low number of references to the primary source in general, this research has tried to understand the issue of Russian nationalism by paying attention to the method of working with primary Russian sources. It has been observed that the "chameleonlikeness" characteristic of the nationalist ideology was also formed in the modern Russia of the Putin period as a result. In this study, it is stated that Putin generally has a civil nationalism understanding as an identity construction. It has been claimed that while implementing this understanding, it tries to manage/direct the opposition nationalists in a way, and on the other hand, it tries to keep the organizations with ethnic nationalism emphasis under control at the level of different organizations close/affiliated to it. Therefore, while managing a whole Russian state, Putin both built a nationalism and tried to use this nationalism for his own interests.