Russians must form their ethnic mentality and promote their patriotism. That will keep the community off extremist moods and trends, such as chauvinism, rabid nationalism and downright fascism, he said to Novosti.
He sees extremism as "principally a religious problem, what with the many sects within particular religions and confessions. Take Islam or Eastern Christianity-there are dozens of trends and sects inside each."
The federal centre has lost whatever influence on nationalities policy. It is making do with occasional moves, and never cares about consistent action, pointed out the Senator.
"The federal President approved a concept of Russia's nationalities policy, which certain people consider outdated even before any considerable effort has been made to implement it. What we need now is practical work not cooking up new concepts.
"This is the time for clear-cut practical programmes, with ethnic Russians' cultural progress for top priority.
"The numerical strength of ethnic entities in Russia has not noticeably changed, shows the latest population census.
"True, certain entities-mostly minorities-have increased birth rates. Things are quite the contrary with the larger entities. There are no sizeable changes, however. Russians had been prognosticated to make roughly 70 per cent of the total population. That forecast did not come true. The share of Russians (total number, roughly 116 million) is staying just where it was-80 per cent, as against 51 per cent in the Soviet Union. That is due not to birth rates alone but to many ethnic Russians leaving former Soviet republics to settle in Russia."
As Mr. Abdulatipov sees it, if a demographic crisis strikes ethnic Russians, it will have the worst effect on governing arrangements to undermine the entire nation's potential, so things will be real bad.
Now, extremism concerns not merely the country's nationalities policy but, even closer, secular authorities' conduct toward religion.
The acting federal law of 1997, On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Communities, bases on a viable concept of Church-State relations, which emerged early in the 1990s. Regrettably, this country has no law on nationalities to match it. The public has long been eager to accept such a law-but parliament is sitting on the fence.
"I think what we need here is a coordinator-for instance, a First Deputy Prime Minister-to methodise and bring into order the activities of all ministries, where interethnic and interreligious contacts come in. I mean the Education Ministry, the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications, the Migration Service, the Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service and, last but not least, the Transport and Power Industry ministries," said Senator Abdulatipov.
