This book deconstructs the equation of nationalism with the extreme right in Russia. Nationalism now extends throughout all ofthe countryand can not be seen as a phenomenon confined to the margins of society. This study rejects the interpretation that understands Kremlin-backed patriotism as simply part of a fascist trend in Russia and as a rapprochement between the political authorities and the extreme right. A simplistic analysis of such a paradoxical phenomenon addresses neither the basic issue of social consensus nor that of the inherent relationship between national identity and citizenship.