SUMMARY:

This article, written by a member of the Commission responsible for the composition of the list of nationalities for the recent Russian census, explores the “Tatar problem” that emerged during the process of census preparation and organization. The author gives a historical outline of the Russian censuses, particularly focusing on classification of ethnic groups. His main interest is to follow the historical life of the term “Tatar” in Russian censuses. Citing norms of the constitution that guarantee freedom of ethnic identification as well as scholarly and administrative practices of the past censuses, Sokolovsky argues in favor of the recent census classification, which provides space for such nationalities and ethnic groups as kriashen. This classification, which allegedly undermined the unity of the Tatar nation, was debated by mass media and authorities in Tatarstan. The author sees the interest of ethnocratic politicians behind the attempt to include kriashens and other ethnic groups into the Tatar nation and thus increase the numbers of the titular nationality population. Such an increase would legitimate the overrepresentation of ethnic Tatars in republican institutions.