Abstract

The article discusses the genesis of the Russian Diaspora in the Baltic countries and the main stages of its formation. The stereotype in the mass consciousness of this monolithic ethnic group, its social and cultural homogeneity is disproved. The selection criteria of the eight heterogeneous groups formed in the Russian Diaspora of the Baltic countries at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union are justified. The Russian Diaspora in the Baltic countries is mainly formed in the late-Soviet period; and by the time of restoration of the independence in these countries it represented not homogeneous but heterogeneous ethnic-and-cultural commonality.