The Russian compatriots: evolution of the status, attention and understanding

In the article, the author draws attention to the progressive and positive nature of the evolution of the status of compatriots from misunderstanding of the depth of the problem to its full comprehension. After the 25-year period of the development of sovereign states the post-Soviet world allows us to trace the process of terminologization of the compatriots concept folding from the point of view of the legislative component of the question, and research, where this issue has also been given adequate attention. A significant contribution to the development of the concept and status of the category of compatriots was made by the Russian President V. Putin, who in the frames of the First Congress of Compatriots Living Abroad, mentioned that Russia is making unreasonably small for their compatriots abroad, who are not only legal, but also a spiritual category. The author proves that for a quarter of century an effective diaspora policy has been developed. In the Concept of the Russian Federation Foreign Policy understanding has been formed and fixed that the support of compatriots, protection of their rights and freedoms is the most important priority of the Russian foreign policy.