The Rusins of Chetm Land and Bessarabia in Aleksey Filippov’s views about the outskirts of the Russian Empire

The article analyses the views of Alexey Frolovich Filippov on the “Rusin question” in Chetm Land, Bessarabia, and other regions in the context of his social activities, views on the problems of various outskirts of the Russian Empire and adjacent territories in general. The analysis of Filippov's views on the “national question” covers both his political projects and the stance of the media under his administration. Particular attention is paid to Filippov's political position during the formative young years, his experience of living in multi-ethnic Mogilev, and participation in student communities at Moscow University. His trip to the Rusins of Chetm Land is considered in detail as a turning point in the formation of his program, which was imperial and nationalist at the same time. The author also considers the role of “Russian outskirts” in the context of Filippov's editorial program in his journal Russkoe Obozrenie in 1901-1903, with special attention given to the history of the Russian presence in Bessarabia. The article describes Filippov's activity on the outskirts of Russia in 1904-1911 as well as an updated national-democratic program designed during his political activity in St. Petersburg in 1912-1914. Filippov's views on the expansion of the Empire after the October Revolution developed during his service to Soviet power in 1917-1921. The author concludes that the problem of Filippov's attitude to the Rusins is closely related to the general methodological problem of the imperial outskirts in Russian conservative thought and that Filippov's approach to the outskirts developed within the framework of “imperial nationalism.”