Print
Rate this article
(no votes)
 (0 votes)
Share this article

The Compatriot Resettlement Program covers Russian and Russian-speaking diasporas all over the world, but its potential is greatest within the post-Soviet space due to the great numbers of compatriots and their cultural proximity to Russia. The program has been repeatedly criticized for lack of scale and organizational and conceptual errors, but it continues to operate nonetheless.

Many countries, from Romania to Israel, eagerly shore up their foreign policy arsenals through the use of diasporas that can directly or indirectly advance the homeland's national interests beyond its borders. In addition, these communities may become a demographic resource if the state encourages repatriation of its nationals.

Russia is also increasingly taking up this mechanism in its "soft power" practices.

The Compatriot Resettlement Program covers Russian and Russian-speaking diasporas all over the world, but its potential is greatest within the post-Soviet space due to the great numbers of compatriots and their cultural proximity to Russia. The program has been repeatedly criticized for lack of scale and organizational and conceptual errors, but it continues to operate nonetheless.

Historical Context

Russia first faced the problem of mass resettlement from the ex-USSR republics back in the 1990s, when Russians and Russian speakers had flee from armed conflicts in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, economic calamities often surpassing Russia’s turmoil in scale, and ethnic violence and discrimination.

What the resettlement policy needs now is acceleration, as it may soon lose momentum due to social transformation in the near abroad.

The official statistics insist that in 1991-2001 Russia received 7.2 million foreigners, while the immigration growth climbed to over 3.4 million. More than 50 percent of immigrants arrived in 1991-1995, with assessments indicating that in those days Russian and Russian-speaking compatriots constituted from one-third to half of the migration flow.

Russia was trying to handle the situation as best it could. In 1994 and 1997, federal migration programs were instituted to help settlers adapt to the Russian society, but to little avail. The state failed to establish proper control over the migration processes and use them for the good of the receiving side due to meager finances, a difficult social environment and domestic problems. In most cases, meaningful adjustment to the socio-economic realities was also thorny, which in the late 1990s to early 2000s sometimes resulted in skilled migrants leaving for the U.S.A. and Western Europe, (based on the author's interviews with Russian emigrants in the United States in the 2000s).

What the resettlement policy needs now is acceleration, as it may soon lose momentum due to social transformation in the near abroad. Specifically, the share of Russian speakers and their command of the Russian language are on the decrease, coming, among other things, from the de-Russification policies of national governments. As a result, the resettlement programs may in time lose a significant portion of their target groups.

To a certain extent, these processes affect the compatriot communities, as young people assimilate, resulting in effective aging of those involved in resettlement. Sociological surveys held in Latvia by compatriot organizations show that young people's Russian identity is becoming blurred. In some cases, it boils down to mere bragging, while educational programs sponsored by Russia are perceived purely in utilitarian terms.

Photo: ITAR TASS
According to the Russian Federal Migration
Service, as of late 2012, 119,000 applications
were filed to cover 258,000 people.
Predominantly, they are Russians or Russian
speakers from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

In some post-Soviet states, the compatriot communities have turned into a stable social phenomenon and are not likely to vanish through assimilation any time soon, while in other cases, the only alternative to promotion of resettlement is the ending of a unique socio-cultural life.

The Effectiveness of the Resettlement Program

The resettlement program is intended to generate a national demographic and labor balance by attracting foreigners while avoiding the usual immigration problems, cultural barriers and conflicts. The Federal Law on the State Policy of the Russian Federation toward Compatriots Abroad of May 24, 1999 specifies a system of criteria that lets in only individuals of the same culture and language, who are offered fast-track citizenship, relocation allowances, and assistance in employment in Russia.

According to the Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS), as of late 2012, 119,000 applications were filed to cover 258,000 people (including family members), of which 79,000 applicants or 166,000 people were included in the program, and 125,000 have already entered Russia. Predominantly, they are Russians or Russian speakers from Central Asia, mostly from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The program seems quite popular in Central Asian republics.

According to the online publication KM.RU, “… Russians residing in Kazakhstan display heightened interest in presentations by Russian regions participating in the compatriot resettlement program. The Russian territories bordering Kazakhstan which are short of population and skilled labor, appear the most active in this regard. At the October 3 presentation in Kokshetau, Omsk Region, the 350-seat community center was crammed, with more and more people coming in even after it was filled.”

Official statistics indicate that in recent years resettlement has been on the rise. During 2012, the number of incoming compatriots almost doubled, indicating that the migration flow should stay high for at least two years. Although the target figures of “hundreds of thousands” declared at the process launch will not be attainable for some time yet, the program is already a factor in Russia’s demographic development. According to 2011 data, 64 percent of incomers were aged under 40, and 63 percent were men, which is of no small importance given Russia’s fast decline in male population.

As compared with standard labor migrants from the CIS countries, compatriot settlers boast significantly higher skills and education level – 42 percent with higher education degrees, 43 percent with professional training, and 99 percent with high school certificates. Prominent figures are also arriving, among them Nadezhda Voropayeva, Doctor of Sciences in Chemistry, medal winner at the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (from Uzbekistan) and Tatiana Volosozhar, a well-known figure skater (from Ukraine), who were given both employment and homes.

Photo: RIA Novosti, Vitaly Bezrukov

The program appears likely to become a major source of labor for the Russian economy.

Problems of the Resettlement Program

FMS official reports invariably accentuate the positive experiences of the program's participants. While these are indeed many, a significant number of settlers face major predicaments which have made the Russian President’s Representative in the Northwestern Federal District admit: “In the Northwestern Federal District the program has been botched; analysis reveals a deplorable picture.”

The most painful issues continue to be provision of housing and the permanent registration essential for health insurance, employment, etc. Housing programs for compatriots do exist but there is much evidence pointing to their poor efficiency. For example, according to the FMS Tambov Region Office, during the program’s two initial years, less than 10 percent of participants managed to acquire housing in this territory. The Kostroma Region is facing similar difficulties, which makes the settlers move elsewhere. The heart of the matter is in lack of finances, fast-growing settler numbers and the clumsiness of local bureaucrats or their rejection of the program altogether.

However, in joining the resettlement program Russia's regions have been taking these negative experiences into account. For example, the Leningrad Region, which is planning to participate in the program to attract skilled workers and engineers from the incoming contingent, is building housing at industrial sites in advance. However, at the same time, the settlers' flow is still growing, which exacerbates existing problems.

Photo: Gazeta.ru
Prominent figures are also arriving, among them
Tatiana Volosozhar, a well-known figure skater
(from Ukraine).

The second set of issues is related to motivating compatriots in the near abroad. One obstacle stemming from perception is the harsh conflict of attitudes between FMS officers and potential settlers in assessing the purpose of the program, as the author found from interviewing both sides in 2012. Many in Russia regard the project as a sort of charity for compatriots living abroad, allowing them to change their lives for the better. At the same time, Russian speakers widely believe that after the collapse of the USSR they were deprived of Russia's support, and in fact betrayed, while the current resettlement programs represent atonement on the part of the receiving country.

Of course, these are the extremes, but people gravitate to one or the other of these models regrettably often. As a result, settlers frequently complain about the inattentiveness of Russian officers during the application procedure, while the officers are sure that the homeland's policies and their work are being blatantly undervalued. The former also sometimes lose heart upon running into bureaucratic hurdles, many genuinely excessive, which necessitate numerous visits to the agencies, filling out endless documents, etc.

Potential immigrants often have to exist in a complicated socio-economic and even ethno-political environment fraught with stress and limited choice, which makes it unreasonable to demand constant moderation and unbiased perspective on their part.

There seem to be no straightforward solutions to these problems, which can at most be alleviated through dialog between the FMS and compatriot communities.

Possible Program Expansion

Currently, the resettlement program is a mechanism to change Russia's demographic situation, i.e. by attraction of large numbers of culturally related immigrants. Thus, it is an en masse process, aiming exclusively to handle large-scale and statistically significant migration flows.

One obstacle stemming from perception is the harsh conflict of attitudes between FMS officers and potential settlers.

Here we see an objective problem connected with the targeted selection of applicants, as there is an obvious trend towards picking out qualified engineers and technicians, as the author found from interviewing program participants and FMS officers in 2012.

The bureaucrats are primarily guided by data on the Russian labor market's overall demand. For example, the Federal Statistics Service research of late 2010 uncovered about 143,000 skilled vacancies, of which 51,000 were social and humanities jobs, where over half of those were education sector workers and accountants, and less than 26,000 out of 100,000 humanities jobs accepted vocational secondary education.

The 2011 data of Ministry for Education and Science show a disproportion of even greater dimensions, i.e. an excess of about 100,000 graduates of liberal arts institutions, economists and managers against an acute shortage of medical workers, transportation specialists and natural scientists.

Photo: ITAR-TASS
Alexander Zhuravsky, Olga Vykhovanets:
Compatriots: Back to the Homeland

The FMS often tries to screen the non-core humanities or reorient them to other occupations. On one occasion, a young political scientist from the near abroad was offered a milker’s job at a farm (from an interview with a program participant, 2012).

On a global level, this approach can be considered appropriate, but Russia also needs humanities experts from the post-Soviet space, including translators, linguists and social scientists. Its soft power policy requires sociologists and political scientists with excellent understanding of the near abroad environment, which seems especially urgent as some Western states possess impressive pools of competent immigrants and local specialists working for European and U.S. think tanks under Western grants.

Of course, this contingent requires individual approach, whereas Russian immigration policy lacks mechanisms for assessment, identification or attraction of such specialists.

* * *

Although the USSR broke up more than 20 years ago, Russia's policy toward compatriots residing in ex-Soviet republics is far from finalized. Moscow is still searching for new approaches and setting up institutions for their implementation.

The compatriot resettlement program is the largest initiative of its kind, the number of its participants over 100,000 and growing. Despite numerous organizational hurdles and a smaller scope than originally expected, the program is definitely a success, as it is helping to solve Russia's demographic and workforce problems. The project can and should be expanded by establishing mechanisms for individual motivation of the potential settlers with the highest qualifications and most desirable skills.

Rate this article
(no votes)
 (0 votes)
Share this article

Poll conducted

  1. In your opinion, what are the US long-term goals for Russia?
    U.S. wants to establish partnership relations with Russia on condition that it meets the U.S. requirements  
     33 (31%)
    U.S. wants to deter Russia’s military and political activity  
     30 (28%)
    U.S. wants to dissolve Russia  
     24 (22%)
    U.S. wants to establish alliance relations with Russia under the US conditions to rival China  
     21 (19%)
For business
For researchers
For students