Külügyi Szemle - A Teleki László Intézet Külpolitikai Tanulmányok Központja folyóirata - 2003 (2. évfolyam)
2003 / 3. szám - EURÓPA - Sáfi Csaba: A Few Words on the Federal Law on State policy of the Russian Federation with regard to Fellow Countrymen Abroad
Csaba Sáfi • The first and foremost reason is the lack of a (foreign) policy concept. For long, Russia could not decide what kind of relations to develop with the fellow countrymen living in the "Near Abroad" and what policy to follow with respect to them. The importance of the problem can be seen in the fact that the actual conflicts occurred not at this point but already before that. Namely, no unified platform could be developed for long concerning the dilemma whether Russia would need its fellow countrymen from a strategic point of view or she would make use of them in her own interest in the short run only, thereby giving up the doubtless potential of these fellow countrymen in the long run. The same can be said concerning the protection of fellow countrymen as well. It remained an issue under consideration for quite a while whether fellow countrymen needed the protection and assistance of the Russian state or this could be left to the care of international law and the various international organisations and mechanisms.9 • The lack of a central state organ. Despite the fact that the fellow countrymen living in the "Near Abroad" number several tens of millions, there has never existed a central state organ the main task of which would be the co-ordination of policy with regard to fellow countrymen, and the establishment and promotion of relations with them. A clear example of the division is that, upon the adoption of the law, the appropriate territorial and functional departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were to handle the human rights and diplomatic (bi- and multilateral) dimensions of the issue, the since abolished Ministry of the RF of CIS Affairs the economic aspects, and the also abolished Ministry of Migration and Nationality Issues the refugee question.10 The problems deriving from this division have always been further aggravated by the fact that, at the various ministries, there has appeared to be a shortage of adequately prepared experts who could handle this issue. As a positive fact, however, it is to be mentioned that beyond the above-mentioned organs of the executive power, there exists a permanent committee in the State Duma that handles the issues between the Commonwealth of Independent States (hereafter: CIS) and the fellow countrymen beyond the borders. • Problems that differ from country to country. The situation of fellow countrymen greatly differs from country to country. These differences considerably contribute to the fact that no common denominator has evolved with regard to the issue of fellow countrymen neither in the field of science nor in that of politics that could have served as a certain precondition to the elaboration of a uniform political concept. Fellow countrymen outside the territory of today's RF but within the borders of the former Soviet Union have different problems and difficulties to face in the Baltic states that belong to Western Christian culture, the newly independent states of Central Asia which, for the most part, possesses an Islamic heritage, the territories beyond the Caucasus where both Muslim and Orthodox Christian populations live, 32 Külügyi Szemle
