SUMMARY:

The article focuses on the official festivities commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District (okrug) in 1950 to study the phenomenon of Stalinist national citizenship, which is understood as recognizing the status of a regular Soviet citizen in certain authorized formats. By accepting the status of a socialist nation offered by the late Stalinist regime, indigenous peoples of the North could gain full access to Soviet status. This did not entail assimilation and Russification but implied acceptance of the essentially hybrid, although rigidly policed, officially authorized, and standardized “national” culture.