Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire

In May 2009 “Russia’s National Security Strategy to 2020” was launched by presidential decree of Medvedev to supplement the “National Security Concept of the Russian Federation of 2000.” The new document reiterated and further reinforced as a long-term goal the “more effective defense of the rights and lawful interests of Russian citizens abroad.”¹¹¹ Considering that Russia had just fought a war to defend the interests of its compatriots and citizens abroad, the rather ambiguous wording would seem to imply more than just diplomatic initiatives of compatriot support. And though the strategy did not reference compatriots directly, thanks to Moscow’s passportization efforts compatriots were often just one step shy of being citizens.¹¹² The document also noted the importance of using “Russia’s cultural potential” to strengthen its national security: television and radio programs, internet sources, and cinematographic works. Such media initiatives would later become important tools of not only Russia’s soft power but also information warfare campaigns.

Contemporary Compatriot Policies and Laws

In July 2010 the fourth attempt was made to define Russian compatriots with an amendment to the 1999 “Federal Law on the State Policies of the Russian Federation with Regard to Compatriots Abroad.” The newest and final definition was equally if not more ambiguous. The amendment included the older 1999 definition of compatriots as those who were born in the same state (Russia and its predecessor the Soviet Union) and who share Russian cultural attributes. This was in direct contrast to the definition introduced in the 2001 Concept of Support to Compatriots that did not evoke the Soviet Union. For the first time, Russian citizens permanently living abroad were also included as compatriots. However, the new definition added another category of “individuals who live outside the Russian Federation and belong to the nations historically residing on the territory of Russian Federation and who also have made a free choice in favor of maintaining spiritual, cultural, and legal ties with Russian Federation.”¹¹³ Based on this definition, neither Russian ethnicity nor Russian language is necessary to be a Russian compatriot, nor is former Russian or Soviet citizenship. Any person who feels a spiritual or cultural connection with Russia and is descended from any of 185 current nationalities inhabiting the Russian Federation and of the many more nationalities that used to inhabit the Russian imperial territories could be called a compatriot.

Most crucially, the 2010 amendment both eliminated the necessity of legal self-identification by compatriots and at the same time required that a compatriot express his or her self-identification by actively participating in Russia’s cultural and political project. The earlier (never enacted) provision on compatriot identification cards was struck, thus eliminating compatriots as a legal category.¹¹⁴ Instead, the compatriot now had to engage and demonstrate: “civic or professional activity in preserving the Russian language and the native languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation, developing Russian culture abroad, strengthening friendly relations between the state in which the compatriot resides and the Russian Federation, supporting compatriot community associations, protecting the rights of compatriots, and maintaining spiritual and cultural connections with the Russian Federation in any other freely chosen way.”¹¹⁵ Therefore, by 2010 the definition of compatriots had shifted from something solely defined by one’s identity to something that must be also certifiable by membership in relevant organizations or by the person’s activities. Being a compatriot became a seemingly political or activist undertaking.