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 solution of their problems. This behaviour might even be understandable considering the nostalgia for the paternalistic state that once used to "provide security". At the same time, even if slowly, it would be more practical to shift their relations with Russia from a state of unilateral dependence into the direction of mutually advantageous relations. Beyond this conceptual change, it would be an important precondition to this that Russian and Russian-speaker communities do and could establish those legitimate organisations that both the Russian state and the one of their residence and citizenship would recognise as negotiating partners. The realisation of these conditions is, however, rendered difficult by the fact that in the majority of the successor states, including of Ukraine with its population of 12 million Russians and at least so many Russian-speakers, it is not allowed to found a political party on an ethnic basis - with the exception of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Only Estonia and Latvia are the exceptions to the general rule. This happens despite the fact that it is widely known that a political party can possess qualitatively more effective ability to assert interests than a simple social organisation. Added to this, civil organisations are in a more exposed situation financially, which, from the point of view of the ruling power, can make them rather easy to "blackmail". However, these types of restrictions encumber exactly the development of a dialogue and partnership between the majority nation and the Russian minorities. In any case, the thinking of the political elite of the successor states is still strongly influenced by their fear of an ethnic mobilisation of the Russian and Russian-speaking population, although the majority of these ethnic Russians voted for the independence of the given republics on occasion of the referendums on independence in 1991. The Russian tongue suffers a similar kind of discrimination. Today, with the exception of Belarus and Kirgizia, the Russian tongue is not granted an official status even though at the time of the adoption of the law, according to the data, the percentage of ethnic Russians exceeded the 30pc in Kazakhstan, Latvia and Estonia, the 20pc in Ukraine and Kirgizia, and the 13pc in Belarus and Moldova.13 (Naturally, these proportions have since changed. Looking at the two successor states with the most numerous Russian population only, one can see that the percentage of ethnic Russians in Ukraine dropped from 22.1pc in 1989 to 17.3pc according to the figures of the 2001 census. In Kazakhstan, the same figure fell from 37.8pc in 1989 to 27pc in 1999.) Not to mention the Russian speakers whose the proportion is higher even than the ones mentioned above. In Estonia and Latvia, however, "Russian parties" exist in vain since their role and significance, in part exactly because of the unorganised manner of the citizenship questions, is relatively negligible as yet. At the same time, the activity of the leaders of the communities of fellow countrymen in the "Near Abroad" is often contrary not only to the interests of Russia but also to that of the Russian communities 34 Külügyi Szemle
