Restricted Communication addresses linguistic regimes in the Russian Empire's western borderlands--a region encompassing modern-day Poland, Right-bank Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. It also engages with broader historiographical debates and demonstrates that identifiable factors--the Russian mental map, the hierarchy of the Empire's enemies, and pressure by non-Russians--shaped a framework within which officials had to navigate their policies. By addressing debates about the Romanov nationality policy and revealing tensions between imperial and nationalist strategies, Darius Staliūnas provides new insights into the interplay of empire, language, and processes of identification in modern European history.