Nationalism in the case of Russia:

... race, and an identity. Preservation of this identity goes along with exaltation of the land, and a “Russian soul”. Russia has always been considered as a territory stuck between Europe and Asia, between “two worlds”. [1] Russian nationalism is thus essentialist.[2] Another element of identity has been used for political purposes: panslavism, used in the 19th century in order to extend Russia’s influence in the Mediterranean Sea (through Serbs, Bulgarians, and Greeks), and in order to justify autocracy. This “unification” ...