Abstract. The article explores the story of the national issue in Donbas as well as of national and religious policies of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. It shows that these republics are close to Russia and to the “Russian world” both culturally and confessionally. According to the author, the issues of the Russian language and of the Russian identity became fundamental in the process of state building in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.