About the book: 2018 / Darina Grigorova’s new book is dedicated to the phenomenon of the “Russian Phoenix”: the fall and revival of Russian statehood between 1991 and 2014 year (with a deep historical retrospective), political, social and national processes taking place in the post-Soviet space of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and, to a lesser extent, Kazakhstan. The questions raised in the book are extremely important. What is the largest country in the world: an empire or a nation state? Or maybe this is a phenomenon born of the overlap of imperialism and Russian sovereignty? And in general, is it justified to contrast the concepts of imperial and national, Russian and Russian in relation to Russia? What are the reasons for the ups and downs of the Russian system? What is its foundation? What determines the duality of Ukrainian identity? Based on rich theoretical and empirical material, the author gives his answers to these and many other questions; answers revealing the problems of modern development of the Eurasian continent. But most importantly, D. Grigorova, as a true scientist, does not seek to cover up historical facts with a fig leaf of political correctness and calls things by their proper names. An honest story from an honest historian - on the pages of this book.