Nationality is a person's belonging to a particular national, ethnic group, including a common language, history, culture and traditions. In addition, nationality denotes the legal affiliation of an individual to any state. The concept of nationality is rather arbitrary.
Article 26 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation indicates that each person has the right to determine or indicate his nationality. Except no one can be forced to this. Russia is a multinational state that includes more than 100 peoples. Over the long years of interethnic cohabitation, the peoples have largely mixed, settled in different regions. There was no dominant nation in the Soviet Union. The national question was considered completely resolved, this sphere was beyond criticism, the difficulties that arose were hushed up. In the new conditions, born of perestroika, there were ample opportunities for an open reaction to the current situation. Republics and autonomies decided to acquire the status of independent state formations, to preserve and protect their language and culture. But these democratic changes were not without distortions. The rights of the indigenous nation were expanded to include other nationalities. Tensions arose, ethnic conflicts, the migration of the Russian population from the former Soviet republics. Nowadays, the urgency of the problem has only slightly decreased. The understanding of nationality as an ethnic category is characteristic of Russia and the Russian language. In most modern European languages, this term denotes citizenship, nationality, nationality. But in essence, the concepts of nationality and citizenship do not completely coincide. For example, in the Russian Federation, the status of Russian citizenship implies certain legally fixed differences of nationalities. In essence, the identification of nationality and citizenship diminishes the determining role of nationality. Conflicting citizenship laws in different countries are evidence of this role. To obtain, for example, French citizenship, you must prove your French nationality. In European legal practice, a number of principles have been developed to classify people as belonging to a particular nationality. The main concept of nationality is considered to be the conservative principle of "blood law", when citizenship is determined by the fact of birth from parents of the corresponding nationality. This principle, for example, allows ethnic Germans who were born outside Germany to acquire German citizenship. The more liberal principle "law of the soil" determines nationality depending on the fact of birth in a certain territory. This principle is typical of France. These principles of obtaining citizenship operate separately or in various combinations.
