Compatriots are in no hurry to return to Russia – the state program launched two years ago has failed
While in Latvia, enterprising employees of a certain public organization started issuing "Russian compatriot" certificates to those who wanted them for $10, in Moscow they are only trying to determine who exactly these people are. In any case, speaking at the III World Congress of Russian Compatriots, President Dmitry Medvedev announced that amendments to the relevant law will clarify this concept.
Since representatives of the Russian authorities throughout the post-Soviet years cannot decide what exactly 'our person' abroad is and how to build relations with him, events like the aforementioned Congress – 480 delegates from 88 countries – turn out best.
Everything is good and proper at the level of speeches. In reality, it is much worse. And compatriots abroad do not feel real help and care from their ancestral homeland.
In the 1990s, many of those who, in the words of Vladimir Putin, could be called victims of the 'greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century,' had a hard time, wanting not necessarily to return to their historical homeland, but at least to obtain a Russian passport.
Today, Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko, while on a visit to Israel, speaks of the possibility of the return of Soviet scientists who left after the collapse of the USSR. And it is somehow forgotten that back then, from the former Soviet republics, it was much easier to emigrate permanently to Israel, Germany, the United States and take advantage of the repatriation programs offered by these countries than to move and settle in independent Russia. It is obvious that in the chaos and instability of the nineties, the new states (not only Russia, but also others, which were then being left en masse by representatives of both titular nations and newcomers) had no time for compatriots in the near or far abroad. It was more important to deal with their own citizens and adapt them to a completely different life in their own country.
But even in the 'fat' 2000s, when concern for compatriots was recognized as a matter of state importance, little changed. It is hardly possible to credit the authorities with the rallies against the closure of Russian schools in Latvia or the story of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn. Rather, judging by the results, this is a political liability. The policy of protecting Russian-speakers and the Russian language in the near abroad over the past decade, despite the strongest ideological and PR support, the opening of Centers for the Support of Russian Culture, has brought rather a negative result. Recently, Russian was legally deprived of the status of a language of interethnic communication even in Tajikistan, which is highly dependent on Russia.
Of course, the rejection of the Russian language and the departure from Russian culture in the former Soviet republics are, first of all, a consequence of their internal policies. But Russia, with its 'new imperialism' (in particular, last year's August war with Georgia), also greatly contributes to the distancing of its former partners.
Not only attempts to help compatriots abroad have been unsuccessful, but also efforts to resettle them in Russia. To call a spade a spade, the state program launched two years ago has failed.
According to the calculations of the Federal Migration Service, it was planned to resettle 50 thousand in 2007, 100 thousand in 2008, and already 150 thousand in 2009... At the end of 2009, Dmitry Medvedev reported that under the compatriot resettlement program, more than 17 thousand (!) people had moved.
But, the president assures, 'we are not chasing numbers, more important is the certainty that people can return to their historical homeland and the state will support them.'
But they are not moving precisely because there is no certainty that the state will support them. Moreover, the program involves resettlement only to certain, not very attractive regions. For example, to the Far East, from where local residents strive to leave due to the difficult socio-economic situation. Only, unlike them, those who came under the resettlement program, that is, at the expense of the Russian state, do not have the right to leave from there – such are the conditions.
The failure, however, prompted the authorities to correct the program. And by the end of the year, it is planned to expand the list of regions offered for resettlement and soften the conditions for migrants. But it is obvious that thousands of migrants will not turn into millions. Moreover, one should not count on scientists starting to return. Such ambitious projects require a lot of money, and the crisis has forced the funding of even the adopted resettlement program to be cut by more than three times.
And therefore, not only the rise of science and modernization of the country with the help of 'our' brains abroad looks utopian, but also the solution of the acute problem of labor reserves with the help of migrants.
However, a different view on the use of compatriots abroad is offered by Patriarch Kirill. He stated that 'the call to consolidate the diaspora' does not mean a call 'to return to Russia'; it is extremely important for compatriots in other countries to preserve their cultural and national identity, 'the Russian diaspora should not be a second-class diaspora, because the country is also judged by its diaspora.'
But a country is judged primarily not by its diaspora, but by the statements of its politicians. And the use of the Russian diaspora as a 'soft power' to promote Russian interests is highly questionable, considering, for example, Gryzlov's statements. The Speaker of the State Duma stated that 'violation of the rights of Russians abroad will affect our relations with the country where these violations occurred' and 'ensuring human rights, including the rights of our foreign compatriots, is not an internal affair of the state, but an international obligation.' After such words, many of our neighbors will start imagining Russian tanks, and the attitude towards Russia and the Russian diaspora is unlikely to improve.
Perhaps quite soon, 'our people' in Riga, Crimea, or Central Asia will cease to be bargaining chips for Russian politicians. Over the past 20 years, almost everyone who could and wanted to has already moved. There are also fewer and fewer people willing to act as a 'fifth column' for Russia. And perhaps in another 5 or 10 years, our compatriots abroad will not need anything from their historical homeland.
Not even a real 'compatriot' certificate, which President Medvedev promised to issue from the congress podium. Even if this 'duplicate of a priceless cargo' is issued completely free of charge.
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