The research on the national identity database on Russia and the USSR is conducted by a team based at the University of Tartu, Estonia. In 2016–2019, this research is supported by the Estonian Research Council (Personal Research Support grant PUT1138). As of April 2018, the team has produced 6 National Identity Reports covering the USSR in 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990, and the Russian Federation in 2000 and 2010.

The country editor for Russia/USSR was Viacheslav Morozov, former Professor of EU-Russia Studies at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu. His book Russia and the Others: Identity and Boundaries of a Political Community (Moscow: NLO Books, 2009) introduces neo-Gramscian theory of hegemony to Russian identity studies.

Elena Pavlova holds a BA degree in Portuguese philology from the St. Petersburg State University, a Master in International Relations from Universidad Complutense (Madrid), and a PhD in Political Science from the St. Petersburg State University. Dr. Pavlova works as a Senior Researcher at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies of the University of Tartu (since 2013), and as Associate Professor at the School of International Relations of the St. Petersburg State University (since 1998). Her research interests include contemporary political philosophy, theory or international relations (in particular, normative issues and theory of resilience), EU-Russia relations, and domestic politics and foreign policy of Latin American countries. Her publications have appeared in a number of peer-reviewed journals, including Problems of Post-Communism, Journal of International Relations and Development Perspectives on European Politics and Society, Journal of Contemporary European Studies and Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica.

Maksim Kulaev was born in 1988 in Tyumen, Russia. In 2011, he graduated with an MA degree from the School of International Relations, Saint Petersburg State University. Currently he is a PhD candidate at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu. His research project is focuses on the subaltern classes in Russia and the mechanisms used by the Russian regime to prevent and neutralize potential social protest and secure grassroots support.

Maria Chernysheva is Associate Professor of Art History at the St. Petersburg State University (Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and Practices in the Field of Arts). She holds a PhD in Art History from the St. Petersburg State University. Dr. Chernysheva’s research and teaching interests include French and Russian art; mimesis in visual art; Orientalist painting; representation of history in nineteenth-century painting; nineteenth-century visual culture; art and politics. Author of the books Мимесис в изобразительном искусстве: от греческой классики до французского сюрреализма: учеб. пособие / Mimesis in Visual Arts from Greek Classic to French Surrealism: textbook (St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University, 2014) and Мане / Manet (St. Petersburg: Belvedere, 2002).