Compatriots
Co-nationals, members of autochthonous communities (kin-minorities) or other diaspora members living abroad. Their legal status is usually regulated by a separate law, based on the national responsibility clause, of the constitutions, if it is exists. The term refers to a common origin from a country or concrete region. Origin may have a common ethnic background, but may also be territorial. The preferential treatment laws for diaspora members and kin-minorities abroad define the concept of compatriot in several ways. A large part of the preferential treatment laws in Central and South-Eastern Europe (e.g. Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak, etc.) tend to adopt a cultural-national concept of nationhood and apply mainly to compatriots who are citizens of the kin-states. (This approach is changing.) Some of the grants and subsidies are linked to a separate certificate of kin-minority status. Compatriots are also usually granted travel benefits and special repatriation facilities. However, the specific status and the opportunities it entails vary considerably from one country to another. In contrast to the Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian federal law on compatriots adopted in 1999 is dominated by territoriality and origin from the territory of Russia. The concept of a compatriot of Russia (sootjechestvennik) therefore includes not only ethnic Russians, but also diaspora members of the various autochtonomous nationalities and ethnic communities in Russia, if they do not belong to the titular nation of residence. Whether or not a diaspora member has Russian citizenship is irrelevant for Russian compatriot law. Another important difference between the Central and Eastern European laws and the Russian law is that the former mainly deals with various subsidies and benefits from the kin-states. The Russian law also indirectly promises minorities protection of Russian Federation (not yet specified) and, if necessary, action in the international arena.