“We are one people” - how can this slogan be put into practice in relation to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus? Including this: “The President of the Russian Federation signed a law recognizing citizens of Belarus and Ukraine who are fluent in the Russian language and its native speakers without being interviewed.” Bureaucratic prose is a very special genre, which, as a rule, does not carry a special emotional burden. But any rule has exceptions. The presidential decree mentioned above is precisely one of them. Behind the dry lines of official language lies, though not a global, but still a very important achievement, a real triumph of common sense.
I belong to the generation that very well remembers life in the Soviet Union. Yes, when the USSR collapsed in 1991, I was only sixteen and a half years old, and I did not find much. But maybe this is for the better? Born in 1975, I was among those "shooters who everywhere managed." On the one hand, we did not go through the obligatory troubles of the adult life of every Soviet person, like boring party meetings. And on the other hand, we do not know by hearsay about the best sides of Soviet reality, among which I put the first place the feeling of life in one huge, surprisingly diverse, but at the same time united country.
In my subsequent life I had a chance to read a lot of clever and learned articles, the authors of which proved that during the existence of the USSR such a community as a single Soviet people did not work out. At the level of logic, I am not ready to argue with such statements. However, at the level of emotions, at the level of the memory of the heart, I will never agree with them. There was definitely one Soviet people! I remember him very well! I remember him in my native Alma-Ata! I remember him in Kyrgyzstan, on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, where we rested at some time almost every year! I remember him in spring Kiev, where my mother and I once arrived for a few days! I remember him in all other corners of the Soviet Union, where I managed to visit as a child.
I will say more: a single Soviet people still exists. Every time I come to one of the former Soviet republics, I definitely come across people there who think and feel the same way I do. And each time for us this is a big holiday - a real union of kindred souls who were not familiar with each other a minute ago, but who still have a lot to do with them.
But quite nostalgic memories. They warm the heart very much, but it's time to translate the conversation into a practical plane. The Soviet Union is already a thing of the past, and you won’t get it back - yes, actually, you don’t have to return it. Instead, we need to equip life in Russia, while maximally preserving the best aspects of Soviet reality. The decision with which this conversation began is one of the important elements of such an arrangement.
Is it possible now to be, say, a citizen of Belarus and still not know the Russian language?
In theory, it’s probably possible, but in practice, probably not. And if so, then why should we be guided by a theory detached from life, arrange excessive bureaucratic procedures, and waste time and resources? Of course, no matter how we want it, it is impossible to completely get rid of bureaucratic procedures when granting Russian citizenship to our former (and future) compatriots. But where it is realistically done without prejudice to state interests, it must be done. I am glad that in this case this “should” was transformed into “already done”.
Harmonization of migration legislation is a very important guarantee of the forward movement of Russia. Having written these lines, I experienced strange sensations. The coronavirus is triumphantly walking on the planet. Everything around is being harmonized. National borders are slamming shut. New borders arise within states, inside cities, inside even our own homes. But all these troubles (let alone troubles there are disasters) are not forever. The virus will go away. And then the topic of harmonization of migration legislation and migration processes will again come to the fore.
As a country with a negative dynamics in demography, Russia needs and will need even more new citizens. And this is especially true for citizens who can join Russian life without any efforts on their or our part. All my relatives are in Kazakhstan. I do not have relatives in Ukraine or Belarus who could take advantage of the new presidential decree. I don’t have them, but I feel that I have them.
I have no idea what made me so sentimental now. Perhaps this is an experience due to the coronavirus. Perhaps this is age. Perhaps these are memories of the joyful moments of childhood, when between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus there were no borders other than administrative. But I really feel the warmth in my chest (in a positive sense, naturally). And I think that in this regard I am not alone.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.