Agnia Grigas - Beyond Crimea

Notes

a. Ukaz Presidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 10 janvarya 2000 g. N 24 “O Konceptsii natsionalnoy bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii,” https://fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/doctrine/gazeta012400.htm .

b. The Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation , 28 June 2000, http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/doctrine/econcept.htm .

c. “Konceptsiya podderzhki RossiyskoyFederatsii sootechestvennikov za rubezhom na sovremennom etape,” http://www.whiteworld.ru/rubriki/000122/000/01101302.htm .

d. Ibid.

e. Federal Law No. 62-FZ On Russian Federation Citezenship, 31 May 2002, http://www.legislationline.org/documents/action/popup/id/4189 .

f. Rasporyazheniye Pravitelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 28.11.2002 № 1663-r. “Osnovnye napravleniya podderzhki Rossiyskoy Federatsiyey sootechestvennikov za rubezhom na 2002–2005 gody,” http://docs.procspb.ru/content/part/63062 .

g. “Programma mer organizatsionnogo, pravovogo, administrativnogo, socialnoekonomicheskogo kharaktera, na dolgosrochnoye stimulirovaniye dobrovol’nogo pereseleniya v Rossiu sootechestvennikov izza rubezha,” utverzhdennaya Pravitelstvom Rossiyskoy Federatsii 18 yunya 2005 g. (№ MF-P12-2990).

h. “Kompleks mer po podderzhke rossiyskikh sootechestvennikov za rubezhom i sodeistviyu ikh dobrovolnomu pereseleniyu v Rossiyskuyu Federatsiyu,” utverzhdennyi Pravitelstvom Rossiyskoy Federatsii 8 yulya 2005 g, http://www.materick.ru/index.php?section=analitics&bulid=115&bulsectionid=11284

i. The program was later updated. See Government decree No. 492, The Russian Language Federal Target Program (2011–2015) , 20 June 2011 (Postanovleniye Pravitelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 20.06.2011 № 492. “O federalnoy tselevoy programme ‘Russkiy yazik’ na 2011–2015 gody”), http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_161668/ .

j. Postanovleniye Pravitelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 29.12.2005 № 833. “O federalnoy tselevoy programme ‘Russkiy yazik (2006–2010 gody)’,” http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_101301/ .

k. Signed on the symbolic date 22 June—the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

A new version of the program came into effect in July 2010. See Alexander Zhuravsky and Olga Vykhovanets, “Compatriots: Back to the Homeland,” Russian International Affairs Council, 31 May 2013, http://russiancouncil.ru/en/inner/?id_4=1908#top .

l. In other sources also called the State Program for Assisting Compatriots in Foreign Residence in Their Voluntary Resettlement to the Russian Federation . (Ukaz Presidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 22.06.2006 № 637, “O merakh po okazaniyu sodeistviya dobrovolnomu pereseleniyu v Rossiyskuyu Federatsiyu sootechestvennikov, prozhivayushikh za rubezhom”), http://base.garant.ru/189653/ .

m. Country Profile of Russian Federation, Focus Migration, no. 20 (July 2010), http://focusmigration.hwwi.de/RussianFederation.6337.0.html?&L=1 .

n. The Program was later updated three times. See Government decree No. 1646-r, Program for Working with Compatriots Abroad, 2009–2011, 10 November 2008 (Rasporyazheniye Pravitelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 10.11.2008 № 1646-r. Ob utverzhdenii Programmy raboty s sootechestvennikami za rubezhom na 2009–2011 gody), http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_81532/ , also Government decree No. 1799-r, Program for Working with Compatriots Abroad, 2012–2014, 13 October 2011 (Rasporyazheniye Pravitel’stva Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 13.10.2011 № 1799-r. Programma po rabote s sootechestvennikami za rubezhom na 2012–2014 gody), http://government.consultant.ru/page.aspx?1576773 and Government decree No. 2321-r, Program for Working with Compatriots Abroad, 2015–2017 , 19 November 2014 (Rasporyazheniye Pravitel’stva Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 19.11.2014 № 2321-r. Programma raboty s sootechestvennikami, prozhivauschimi za rubezom, na 2015–2017 gody), http://government.ru/media/files/ZXiQGZwhcwc.pdf .

o. Rasporyazheniye Pravitel’stva Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 02.10.2006 № 1370-r, Programma raboty s sootechestvennikami za rubezhom na 2006–2008 gody, http://russia.bestpravo.ru/fed2006/data01/tex10044.htm .

p. Ministerstvo inostrannykh del Rossiyskoy Federatsii, Obzor vneshney politiki Rossiyskoy Federatsii, http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/sps/3647DA97748A106BC32572AB002AC4DD#%D0%92%D0%92%D0%95%D0%94%D0%95%D0%9D%D0%98%D0%95 .

q. Ukaz Presidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 12.05.2009 № 537, “O Strategii natsional’noy bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii do 2020 goda,” http://www.rg.ru/2009/05/19/strategiadok.html .

r. Russia’s National Security Strategy to 2020 , 12 May 2009, http://rustrans.wikidot.com/russiasnationalsecuritystrategyto2020 .

s. Federalnyi zakon ot 23.07.2010 № 179-FZ, O vnesenii izmeneniy v Federalnyi zakon “O gosudarstvennoy politike Rossiyskoy Federatsii v otnoshenii sootechestvennikov za rubezhom,” http://www.rg.ru/2010/07/27/sootechdok.html .

t. Ukaz Presidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 07.05.2012 № 605, “O merakh po realizatsii vneshnepoliticheskogo kursa Rossiyskoy Federatsii,” http://kremlin.ru/acts/15256 .

u. See more in Grigory B. Karasin, “Russian World Is Becoming a Reality,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta, 24 October 2012, http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/brp_4.nsf/f68cd37b84711611c3256f6d00541094/35bddd904894089944257aae004c4b41!OpenDocument .

v. Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation , 12 February 2012, http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/76389FEC168189ED44257B2E0039B16D .

w. Ibid.

x. Gosudarstvennoy Dumy Federalnogo Sobranija Rossiyskoy Federatsii ot 04.04.2014 № 4077–6 GD, “O Federal’nom zakone ‘O vnesenii izmeneniy v stat’i 14 i 27 Federal’nogo zakona “O grazhdanstve Rossiyskoy Federatsii”’ (proyekt № 417698–6),” http://www.rg.ru/2014/04/23/grazhdanstvodok.html .

y. “On Submission to the State Duma of a Draft Law Simplifying Procedures for Receiving Russian Citizenship for Some Categories of Foreigners,” The Russian Government, 4 March 2014, http://government.ru/en/news/10896 .

Once again, while claiming the Russian compatriots for itself, Moscow had little intention of letting them return to the homeland, even stipulating a “restriction of uncontrolled migration in Russia.” 78In 2001 this decision was somewhat surprising. On the one hand Russia was still recovering from the financial crisis of 1998, and probably could not have borne the costs of an influx of millions of immigrants. On the other hand, global oil prices were beginning to rise rapidly and Russia’s wealth was increasing, resulting in a rising need for additional labor especially in the face of Russia’s demographic crisis. 79Furthermore, Putin clearly stated in October 2001, “Russia is interested in having Russians return from abroad” 80and admitted that previous work with Russian compatriots had not been effective. Nonetheless, the early 2000s also marked a time of rigid Russian immigration policies. 81Accordingly, the 2001 Concept largely preserved Russia’s older policies vis-à-vis Russians abroad, focusing on assisting their “adjustment and integration into the life of countries of residence while voluntarily preserving their ethnic and cultural identity.” 82

The year 2002 was a turning point for conceptualizing the Russian compatriots. At the end of May Putin signed “Federal Law No. 62-FZ On Russian Federation Citizenship.” The new law toughened the general naturalization rules in comparison to the law of 1991, but on the other hand, enabled the stateless former Soviet Union citizens to get Russian passports more easily. 83Right after this law came into force, mass Russian passportization started in Georgia, where application centers were established even in the most remote areas of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. According to official Russian sources, in four years after the beginning of this policy in 2002 the proportion of Russian citizens in Abkhazia increased from 30 percent to 80 percent and in South Ossetia from 40 percent to 90 percent by 2006. 84