OLD BELIEVERS IN THE NATIONAL CONTEXTS OF THE BALKANS AND THE BALTIC STATES
The author considers the current situation with Russian Old Believers in the Balkans and the Baltic States by analyzing two aspects in the development of the Old Believers Diaspora development in the context of the membership of some Balkan and Baltic countries in the European Community: 1) Old Believers as Russian minority living in the “new” European democracies in comparison with the “Soviet” Russians; 2) Old Believers as a religious and ethnic community, which is intensively participating in the postmodern processes of reviving their own culture, traditions and identity. The article studies concepts of the minority in the national discourse of the “new” EU countries (Bulgaria and Romania in the Balkans and Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the Baltic States). The article is based on field researchers in the Balkans and the Baltic States conducted by the author in 2008–2017, as well as published and archive materials