The program is supposed to start working by June 1, 2007. However, experts believe that few will want to return. In Russia, former compatriots face the horrors of bureaucracy, poor housing conditions, hostility from local residents, and limited job opportunities.
Today, legislators swear that the state program "Compatriots" will solve all problems at once. True, this project will only apply to those who moved to Russia after January 1, 2007. "Each repatriate will receive a special certificate that will ensure assistance from the authorities during the move," said Denis Soldatikov, deputy head of public relations of the Federal Migration Service. A person will be provided with a five-ton container for transporting belongings, their travel expenses will be compensated, and in some regions they will receive "relocation allowances" or a one-time payment. All repatriates will be able to obtain official temporary resident status in Russia within a week, and citizenship processing will take a maximum of six months.
Repatriates are to be granted not only Russian citizenship but also housing. For such a noble goal, it is planned to slightly push back those on the housing waiting list. However, such gifts await only those who agree to move to one of the 12 regions that need "external" help. There is an obvious conflict between compatriots who want to settle closer to the center and the state, which is interested in developing depressed regions.
The Zharinov family ended up in Ulyanovsk in 1994 as forced refugees from Tajikistan, reports Mikhail Bely, a special correspondent for NI. Saving their children from war, they sold their apartment for a pittance and moved to Russia. But there they are forced to huddle in a tiny apartment: five children, four adults. On 14 square meters, they simultaneously watch TV, relax, eat, and do homework. Each family member has one and a half meters of living space – less than in a prison cell. "The children are constantly sick. There is no hot water, only cold. As soon as one child catches a cold, everyone starts sneezing," says Natalya Zharinova, mother of five. "Even the district doctor has stopped coming to us. If they don't want to give us an apartment, let them give us money so we can leave Russia. I think I have done enough for the country and that I have the right to at least a two-room apartment." Now the Zharinov family is preparing to go on a hunger strike.
You Never Lived Here
Lawmakers claim that under the program, Russia will be able to accept the first 50,000 repatriates. However, it is unknown whether they will want to return. In the regions, "newcomers," even former compatriots, face outright persecution. "He got an apartment before me, he was provided with a job, paid money" – isn't that a reason for enmity? As a result, repatriates have to defend their property in battles with neighbors. Alcoholism, typical in rural areas, further complicates their adaptation.
Yegor Isayev was born in Georgia. His parents once decided that fruits and sunshine were much more comfortable than Siberian frosts and moved to what was then a Soviet republic for permanent residence. Having received a decent education, Yegor decided to go back, to the bears and permafrost. However, the harsh Siberians were in no hurry to welcome him with open arms. "I managed to rent an apartment, more or less," says Yegor. "I'll probably have to change it soon because the neighbors just don't give me any peace. They constantly call me a terrorist and almost an enemy of the people. I can't show everyone my family tree back to the seventh generation. I'm also not very lucky with work. As soon as a potential boss sees my birthplace, he slams the door in my face, explaining that 'we have tense relations with Georgia.'"
A Check for a Passport
Conflict with the local population is just one of the problems faced by repatriates when returning to their homeland. The main battle in the fight for Russian citizenship lies in the bureaucratic web that only a rare lucky person manages to break through. Recent amendments to the law "On Citizenship" have further confused repatriates. Now, obtaining a Russian passport is possible only with a propiska (residence registration). Where to get it without citizenship is unknown.
Ivan Noskov was born in Uzbekistan, where his family moved in search of high-paying jobs and cheap housing. Even during Soviet rule, his parents divorced, and his father returned to his homeland – a village near Voronezh. A few years later, after the collapse of the USSR, Ivan decided to follow him and came to Russia. Alas, no one was waiting for him here. "I spent 8 years of my life in honest attempts to get citizenship. All certificates have a shelf life of one to three months – so collecting them all at the same time by the deadline is practically impossible. Moreover, even if they are all gathered together, there is no guarantee of obtaining citizenship. In the end, I just gave up on all this and did what many others did: I bought a citizenship stamp and passport. It took me two years and a little over $5,000."
"Every man for himself," repatriates think and prefer to take matters into their own hands. "There are about 1 million people in the country trying to get Russian citizenship," says Lidia Grafova, chair of the executive committee of the "Forum of Resettlement Organizations." "The bureaucratic web essentially forces many people to pay a bribe to an official for a passport rather than obtaining propiska and citizenship officially."
Sometimes it comes to outright extortion. "I know a woman who came to Chechnya with her husband," says Yuri Fedyaev, head of the organization "Humanitarian Center for Refugee Assistance." "Her husband died there, and she decided to return to Russia with her son. They were told in plain words: if you want to get citizenship, help with money."
Until the Thunder Strikes
Experts are convinced: the alarm should have been raised 15 years ago, when the main wave of 'returnees' began. In Soviet times, people left for the union republics for many reasons. For example, after the earthquake in Tashkent, people were forcibly sent to Uzbekistan to rebuild the completely destroyed city. Many then decided to stay because of the comfortable natural conditions. Traditionally, those wishing to work in their specialty left for the republics of the USSR: in those days, each region was engaged in its own area of industry.
The flow of repatriates back to Russia surged in the early 90s. After the collapse of the Union, nationalist sentiments began in the republics. Many then simply could not stand the attacks from neighbors and left for home. Currently, there are about 30 million such people abroad. They are mainly intellectual workers, who are of great value to Russia. Some republics have already assessed what will happen if they lose such specialists. And they are already making efforts to keep native speakers with them. In Russia, teachers are offered to work in unpopular sectors of the economy, for example, in agriculture. Besides teachers, pensioners also remained in the republics, for whom it is physically difficult to move. They will neither be able to increase the birth rate nor compensate for the shortage of specialists. The state places the responsible mission of reviving domestic demography and economy on the youth. But young men and women, instead of rushing to save Russia, prefer to learn foreign languages and look for work in the West.
Artificial Settlement
Experts are convinced: the 'Compatriots' project is still raw. 'If a course had really been chosen to attract Russians to the country, it would have been advisable to use the Israeli example,' says Evgeny Gontmakher, scientific director of the Center for Social Research and Innovation. 'A person wishing to go there for permanent residence just has to step off the plane and immediately receives a temporary identity card. And after six months, if he has confirmed his desire to stay, he is issued a passport. But here, people who want to return to Russia are still met with hostility.'
You can't force someone to love – these words fully reflect the situation with repatriates. Artificially causing a wave of migration, even with good intentions, is like stroking a cat against the fur. The regions are simply not ready to implement the program. 'Kaluga Oblast, despite all assurances, can offer repatriates some dilapidated barracks for housing,' said Svetlana Gannushkina, chairwoman of the organization 'Civic Assistance.' 'The government is going to introduce real serfdom: citizens leave disadvantaged regions, striving to change their living conditions for more comfortable ones. And the state somehow believes that people will gladly accept terrible infrastructure in a new place.'