Russia is trying to enshrine in its legislation excuses for interfering in the internal affairs of other countries
The State Duma has introduced a bill to recognize “compatriots” as “those who speak Russian.” This document actually gives the Russian government pseudo-legal arguments for interfering in the internal affairs of countries that gained independence after the collapse.
The author of the document is Konstantin Zatulin, a member of United Russia and the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots.
The document states that “compatriots” are all people and their descendants who live in other countries and speak Russian. Many of the wording in the document is blurred. One of them, for example, says that “compatriots” can be considered all those who “historically live in Russia, as well as those who have made a free choice in favor of spiritual, cultural and legal ties” with Russia.
The explanatory note to the bill says that knowledge of the Russian language is “a necessary condition for compliance with the constitutional requirement for the state to ensure the all-Russian cultural identity of compatriots living abroad.”
The bill also proposes to clarify the list of peoples living and living in Russia.
The specified list includes:
– state-forming people (Russians);
– representatives of the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples, “connected with the state-forming people by a community of historical destiny and culture”;
– representatives of the peoples living in the relevant national territorial entities in the territory of the Russian Federation;
– Representatives of Indigenous Minorities included in the Unified List of Indigenous Minorities of the Russian Federation, approved by the RF Government Resolution of March 24, 2000 № 255;
– representatives of other “historically living peoples of the Russian Federation”. The list of peoples historically residing in the territory of the Russian Federation for the purposes of this Law shall be formed from the specified groups and approved by the Government of the Russian Federation.
Amendments are made to paragraph 3 of Article 1 and to the seventh paragraph of Article 2 of the Federal Law “On the State Policy of the Russian Federation in Relation to Compatriots Abroad” of 1999. However, it should be noted that in paragraph 3 of the current Article 1 of the law there is no mention of Russian language proficiency. However, Article 1 states that compatriots are already “persons born in the same state, living or having lived in it and having signs of common language, history, cultural heritage, traditions and customs, as well as descendants of these persons in a direct descending line”.
The document notes that “the federal law enters into force after 180 days from the date of official publication, necessary for the preparation of regulations ensuring its application.”
The document does not explain the concept of “Russian state”. With a broad interpretation, we can also talk about Poland and Finland, which were part of the Russian Empire.
