Editor's Note: This is the fourth installment of a five-part series on Russian society and identity. Part 4 will discuss the demographic shifts under way in Russia. Click to read Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3 . In recent years, cracks in Russian President Vladimir Putin's system have started to show as the diversity of Russia's population puts pressure on the government and on social stability. Reasons for this increasing social pressure include demographic shifts, religious extremism and generational political change. Though these tensions are rooted in social issues that the Kremlin has always faced, they have reached a point at which society and the Kremlin find it necessary to address them. Demographic Shifts and Immigration Although Russia has had an ethnically diverse population throughout its history, its diversity is becoming even more pronounced as a changing population increases social tensions across the country.