nationalism
The USSR did not break up and become Russia again. Thinking Russia and the USSR were the same, is a common mistake. Russia was just part of the USSR, along with many other countries. Russia was the largest of the countries that were part of the USSR. In 1991, the USSR broke up and these countries, including Russia, all became independent.
nationalism
Ukraine was in USSR not in Russia!!! Russia was not independet until the break-up of USSR! that is when all the 15 republics became independent states, including UKRAINE and RUSSIA!
My guess is because when the countries broke thousands of years ago Russia didn't break up properly making it the biggest in the world.
There were many different ethnic and language groups.
based god had sex with all the Russian women
Accepting Russia was an attempt to boost Nationalism, and prevent rebellion.
The rise of nationalism in the Empire eventually caused the break-down of the Ottoman millet (confessional community) concept.
Nationalism can be dangerous because it can inspire passionate radicalism and violence in defense of the nation-state in question. A perfect example of the passionate violence that was inspired by nationalism were the Yugoslav Break-Up Wars, where Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks engaged in very bloody wars based on nationalist concerns.
Russia encouraged Slave nationalism while Austria worried that this nationalism could undermine their empire. Russia supported Serbia which was very bitter at the annexation of Bosnia and saw themselves as Serbia's protector.Austria, Hungary, was a multi ethnic state which means that it was made up from people of many different nationalities. This caused problems when Nationalism took place because all of the different groups of nationalities wanted to have their independence, they wanted national statehood. This caused turmoil and instability within the Empire.
The ethnic group that has tried to break away from Russia is Chechens.