The Collaborative International Dictionary
Russification \Rus"si*fi*ca"tion\, n. [Russia + L. -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy.] The act or process of Russifying, or the state of being Russified.
Wiktionary
n. (alternative form of Russification English)
Wikipedia
Russification or Russianization is a form of cultural assimilation process during which non- Russian communities, voluntarily or not, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian one.
In a historical sense, the term refers to both official and unofficial policies of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union with respect to their national constituents and to national minorities in Russia, aimed at Russian domination.
The major areas of Russification are politics and culture. In politics, an element of Russification is assigning Russian nationals to leading administrative positions in national institutions. In culture, Russification primarily amounts to domination of the Russian language in official business and strong influence of the Russian language on national idioms. The shifts in demographics in favour of the ethnic Russian population are sometimes considered as a form of Russification as well.
Analytically, it is helpful to distinguish Russification, as a process of changing one's ethnic self-label or identity from a non-Russian ethnonym to Russian, from Russianization, the spread of the Russian language, culture, and people into non-Russian cultures and regions, distinct also from Sovietization or the imposition of institutional forms established by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union throughout the territory ruled by that party. In this sense, although Russification is usually conflated across Russification, Russianization, and Russian-led Sovietization, each can be considered a distinct process. Russianization and Sovietization, for example, did not automatically lead to Russification – change in language or self-identity of non-Russian peoples to being Russian. Thus, despite long exposure to the Russian language and culture, as well as to Sovietization, at the end of the Soviet era non-Russians were on the verge of becoming a majority of the population in the Soviet Union.
Usage examples of "russification".
The upper Russia, the Westernized stratum which played with Western materialistic philosophy, spoke German and French, traveled to the spas of Europe, and concerned itself with European cabinet-politics, was the object of the fierce hatred of the pure Russians, the Nihilists, who embodied the wordless idea of complete destruction of the West, and the Russification of the world.
The policy of Russification was carried on in Finland as well as in the more recent acquisitions.
There is strong native resistance in Central Asia these days to anything suggesting Russification, and that goes even for the look of a printed language.