The Images of Russia and the Russian World among the Russian Diaspora in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Currently, the Russian world potentially is a new unifying, communication and civilizational factor not only within Russia, but also beyond its borders, in the post-Soviet space. The Russian diaspora is a part of the Russian world and can act as its successor and translator; therefore, this study is devoted to the images of the Russian world and Russia (as the country from which the Russian world takes its origins) among Russians in the post-Soviet space (using the example of countries such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan). The study sample included 71 members of the Russian diaspora living in Kyrgyzstan (41 people) and Kazakhstan (30 people); the methodological tools included: the open-ended question method, associative method and scaling. It was found that the majority of the respondents felt a sense of belonging to the Russian world to one degree or another; in general, they evaluated it positively; there was a predominance of positive feelings towards the Russian world, but anxiety was also present. For the overwhelming majority of the respondents, the subjective boundaries of the Russian world either ran through the post-Soviet space or were absent at all. Specific differences could be observed: in the chronological chain ‘Ancient Rus - Tsarist Russia - The Russian Empire - The USSR - Russia’ different links were displaced depending on the historical relations of Russia with the countries where the Russian diaspora lived. Compared to the Russians from Kazakhstan, the Russians from Kyrgyzstan noted that in the time perspective of the Russian world there could be not only the past and the present, but also the future; they also had such categories as ‘time’, ‘unification’ and ‘religion’, which testified to the potential of the Russian world as a unifying factor between Russia and, accordingly, Kyrgyzstan. Some members of the Russian diaspora did not have answers to this or that question about the Russian world, which might indicate indifference or lack of understanding of it, and therefore the need for competent development of the idea of the Russian world on the part of social and political institutions.