$OH[DQGHU6DOHQNR (grazdanstvo - !"#$%#&'()*) and nationality (national’nost’ - &#+,*&#-.&*'(.). In consequence, in the Russian context the term citizenship cannot be used as a synonym for nationality. The Constitution of the Russian Federation distinguishes between these two legal definitions. Thus, under Article 6 of the Russian Constitution citizenship (grazdanstvo !"#$%#&'()*) of the Russian Federation shall be acquired and terminated according to federal law; it shall be one and equal, irrespective of the grounds of acquisition (Article 6 (1); a citizen of the Russian Federation may not be deprived of his or her citizenship (grazdanstvo - !"#$%#&'()*) or of the right to change it (Article 6 (3). At the same time, with regard to Article 26 (1) of the Russian Constitution the term ‘nationality’ (national’nost’ - &#+,*&#-.&*'(.) is associated with the ethnicity of the person: ‘Everyone shall have the right to determine and indicate his nationality (national’nost’ - &#+,*&#-.&*'(.). No one may be forced to determine and indicate his or her nationality (national’nost’ - &#+,*&#-.&*'(.).’2 As a result, in the Russian language, the term nationality (national’nost’ - &#+,*&#-.&*'(.) refers to individual membership in a nation (&#+,/) as a cultural, linguistic and historic community. A correct understanding of this distinction between ‘citizenship’ and ‘nationality’ is of crucial importance in the multinational context of the Russian Federation. In Russia, the legal term ‘!"#$%#&'()*’ (grazdanstvo = citizenship, ‘die Staatsangehörigkeit’) can be considered as a neutral definition designating an individual’s link with a state (gosudarstvo - !*'0%#"'()*) without any reference to his or her ethnicity/nationality (national’nost’ - &#+,*&#-.&*'(.). The term ‘&#+,*&#-.&*'(.’ (nationality, Nationalität / Volkszugehörigkeit) - deriving from &#+,/ (nation, das Volk / die Nation) - refers primarily to the ethnic background of an individual. Therefore, in the Russian multinational discourse, it is better to use only the term citizenship (grazdanstvo !"#$%#&'()*) when one refers to someone’s legal status as a citizen of a state (grazdanin !"#$%#&,&) instead of the vague term ‘nationality’ because of its ethnic connotations. According to Soviet legislation, information about nationality (national’nost’ &#+,*&#-.&*'(.) was an obligatory part of the passport of any citizen of the Soviet Union.3 The designation of nationality (1#2,'. * &#+,*&#-.&*'(,)4 in the Soviet passport was based on the nationality of an individual’s parents. If the parents were of different nationalities, than the nationality could be defined according to the nationality of the father or mother, based on the wishes of the passport’s recipient (Article 3 of the Order). In the 1990s, during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, the new form of the domestic passport was adopted5, in which information regarding nationality was excluded from the passport. It is worth considering the etymology of the word ‘citizenship’: grazdanstvo (!"#$%#&'()*). The term citizenship describes the legal relationship- the bond of the person to the state (city-state). The word city in Russian is ‘gorod’ or ‘GRAD’. From this root originates the word ‘GRAZHdanstvo’ (the last letter in the root ‘graD’ changes from ‘-’ (‘d’) to ‘,’ (‘zh’). The same linguistic phenomenon occurs in English: city - citizenship (the letter change - the last character in the root changes from ‘y’ to ‘i’). Because of the fact that the city-states, both ancient and medieval, 2 Constitution of the Russian Federation. http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/articles/ConstMain.shtml Order of the Council of Ministers of the USSR !677 from 28 August 1974 ‘On approval of the Provision about passport system in the USSR (Postanovlenie Soveta Ministrov SSSR ot 28 avgusta 1974 goda. !677 ‘Ob utverzdenii polozenija o pasportnoj sisteme v SSSR’). 4 During the Soviet era there was slang regarding the nationality of a person - ‘item 5’ ((2/&2 %+&4& -the literal meaning ‘fifth section’) - derived from the special section of the application form (questionnaire) and the above mentioned part of the Soviet passport. 5 Decree of the President of the Russian Federation from 13.03.1997 N 232 ‘About main identity document of the citizen of the Russian Federation on the territory of the Russian Federation’ (Ukaz Presidenta RF ot 13.03.1997 ! 232 ‘Ob osnovnom dokumente, udostover’ajushem lichnost’ grazdanina Rossijskoj Federacii na territorii Rossijskoj Federacii’). 3  56&$6(8'2&,7&5‹$XWKRU