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

Abroad". The concepts of diaspora and fellow countrymen appear in law as synonymous expressions. Third, starting out from the fact that the Russian Federation is not a nation-state, since, outside the Russians, it is the home of more then one hundred peoples and nations or ethnicities the majority of which do not have a mother country outside the borders of the Russian Federation, fellow countrymen living outside the federation are to be considered not Russians but, instead, persons of Russia. Mention is made of this latter in the law, too. Fourth, the concept of national minority, exactly because of the multinational character of the RF, is not used.

Enumeration of the positive points of the law

The most important positive elements of the law are as follows:

f. It enumerates in detail and systematises those fields, in which the RF provides assistance to fellow countrymen, moreover those fields in which fellow countrymen can expect the assistance of the Russian state;

2. It is emphasised at several points that assisting the fellow countrymen is in harmony not only with the internal laws and international treaties of the RF but it also complies with the generally accepted norms and principles of international law, moreover it takes into consideration the similar practices of other countries as well;

3. The assistance provided to fellow countrymen is not limited to Russian nationals abroad but it also extends to those nationalities in possession of the status of fellow countrymen outside the borders that do not have their own state (e.g. the Tatars, the Komi, and the Chuvash do not qualify as state-forming nations);

4. Assisting the fellow countrymen is executed not exclusively on the federal level but with the participation of the legal entities of the federation;

5. The national-cultural autonomy of fellow countrymen is mentioned;

6. The introduction of the document (certificate) on one's fellow countryman status;

7. The improvement of the legal status of fellow countrymen not in possession of a citizenship (who have become stateless) and former Soviet citizens by way of granting them Russian citizenship.

Under the law, assistance to fellow countrymen is provided in the following fields:

1. In the fields of basic human and civil rights as well as basic freedoms. Under the law, fellow countrymen can expect assistance from the RF on a legal basis (Article 15):

• in ensuring them their basic human and civil, political, economic, and other rights in the fields also contained in international documents dealing with human rights;

• in the course of anti-discrimination activities should they be discriminated on the basis of race, sex, language, religious, and political expressions or any other belief,

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