Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a strategy for the destruction of the identity of national minorities through 2036, which Ukrainian intelligence calls a plan for total Russification.
This was reported by the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Agency.
According to the approved document, in ten years, the vast majority of Russia’s population, including residents of the occupied Ukrainian territories, should identify exclusively as Russian. The Kremlin aims to create a homogeneous society devoid of national distinctions, fully subordinated to the imperial concept of the so-called state-civilization.
Intelligence reports that the state national policy strategy through 2036 includes unrealistic targets, such as requiring 95% of the population to call themselves Russian by that time. The Kremlin also plans to raise the positive perception of interethnic relations to 85%. Behind these formal goals lies a tightening of control over information space and further restriction of the rights of national minorities.
This strategy poses a particular threat to temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories. In Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, Russia plans large-scale propaganda campaigns aimed at suppressing Ukrainian national consciousness, cementing the dominance of the Russian language, and imposing an all-Russian identity. In practice, this means accelerated and forced Russification of people under Russian occupation during the war waged by Putin.
The document also identifies so-called internal threats, including Russophobia, historical distortions, and the potential emergence of ethnic enclaves. To combat these, the Kremlin plans to use social media and video platforms to promote narratives about traditional values. At the same time, Moscow seeks to present an image abroad of Russia as a democratic and law-based state. According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Kremlin intends to use international platforms to create the impression for foreign audiences of equality of rights and freedoms, despite rising xenophobia and increasing ethnocentric policies domestically.
