"In the personal identification documents of subjects of the Russian Empire, there was not a column [for] nationality—there was none. In the Soviet passport there was, but in the Russian one—there was not. But what was there? “Religious faith.” There was a common value, a religious value, association with Eastern Christian religion, with Orthodoxy… There were other values, but this was the defining one: which values do you share?

"That’s why, even today, it doesn't matter to us whether a person is from the east, west, south, or north. If they share our values, they’re one of us."

-- Vladimir Putin