Editor's Note: This is the third installment of a five-part series on Russian society and identity. Part 3 examines the challenges faced by the Russian Federation in uniting its population. Click to read Part 1 and Part 2 . After the fall of the Soviet Union, the concept of being Soviet was obliterated. Consequently, Russia went through a decadelong identity crisis, just as many of its former republics did. When the Soviet states declared independence, Russia lost control of 52 percent of the Soviet population and 24 percent of Soviet territory. Through this loss, the country shed many territories that were not ethnically Russian, though many diverse groups and peoples remained inside the Russian Federation. This created a question for the new regime: Without the foundation of a unifying Soviet identity, how would Moscow continue to oversee (let alone unite) such a motley population?