The State Duma hosted parliamentary hearings regarding politics and attitude of Russia towards our expats living abroad, according to the State Duma official website. The event was backed up by the Russkiy Mir Foundation.
The presentation by Chairman of the Committee on CIS, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov opened the hearings. He has marked that collapse of the Soviet Union lead to some catastrophic aftermath: around 30 million people were left beyond their native country. They consider themselves Russians, preserve Russian culture and keep in touch with Russia; however, they are not Russian citizens. Leonid Kalashnikov has added that Russian community is one of the biggest in number; therefore, the top-priority task is to support the Russian expats abroad. The committee chairman has commented with satisfaction that more than a half of newly made Russian citizens, around 150 thousand people, is our compatriots.
Mikhail Shvydkoi, Presidential Special Representative has noticed that our compatriots represent serious political power in Israel, Germany and Latvia. He spoke in support of simplified procedure to obtain Russian citizenship and about the necessity to work out a scheme of supporting Russian cultural centers abroad.
World Coordination Council of Russian Compatriots member Stanislav Elifantsev spoke in favor of serious and powerful Russian community abroad and offered to develop a strategy to support Russian expats living abroad.
Russkiy Mir
