It is hardly a coincidence that the term ‘compatriots’ acquired legal status, enshrined in the Federal Law ‘On the State Policy of the Russian Federation Regarding Compatriots Abroad’ in June 1999, on the eve of Putin’s appointment as Director of the FSB and subsequently as Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.
Article 1 of the Act states:
"1. Compatriots are persons born in the same state, who reside or have resided there and share a common language, history, cultural heritage, traditions and customs, as well as the direct descendants of such persons.
2. Compatriots abroad (hereinafter referred to as ‘compatriots’) are citizens of the Russian Federation who permanently reside outside the territory of the Russian Federation.
3. Compatriots are also recognised as persons and their descendants residing outside the territory of the Russian Federation who, as a rule, belong to peoples historically inhabiting the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as persons who have freely chosen to maintain spiritual, cultural and legal ties with the Russian Federation and whose direct ascendants previously resided on the territory of the Russian Federation, including:
persons who were citizens of the USSR, residing in states that were part of the USSR, who have acquired the citizenship of those states or have become stateless;
emigrants from the Russian State, the Russian Republic, the RSFSR, the USSR and the Russian Federation who held the relevant citizenship and have since become citizens of a foreign state or stateless persons".

It follows from this that the status of ‘compatriot’ is granted to all people who once lived within the territory of the Russian Empire, the USSR, Russia, and their descendants. In other words, the law establishes a new category of the population, purportedly possessing special—though clearly defined—privileges from the perspective of the Russian state.
The aim of adopting this murky and, at first glance, legally absurd law is to provide ‘compatriots’ with ‘state support and assistance’ and to protect their rights in foreign states. It also follows from the law that ‘in the Russian Federation, state-public and public funds may be established, formed from contributions by the state, natural persons and legal entities, for the financial and material support of compatriots and their organisations’. One might think that special laws are required to establish such funds.
The law is full of strange and, one might say, quasi-non-legal formulations. For example, Chapter 3 states:
 
‘1. Citizens of the Russian Federation residing outside the territory of the Russian Federation are compatriots by virtue of their citizenship….
2. The recognition by the persons referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 1 of this Federal Law of their status as compatriots constitutes an act of self-identification, underpinned by social or professional activities aimed at preserving the Russian language, the native languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation, the development of Russian culture abroad, the strengthening of friendly relations between the states of residence of compatriots and the Russian Federation, the support of public associations of compatriots and the protection of the rights of compatriots, or other evidence of these persons’ free choice in favour of spiritual and cultural ties with the Russian Federation.
3. Compatriots are entitled to register with public associations of compatriots in accordance with the statutes of those associations and to receive documents (certificates) confirming their membership of public associations of compatriots.”

In other words, all citizens of Russia are ‘compatriots’ by virtue of their citizenship. For non-citizens living abroad, recognition as ‘compatriots’ is a matter of self-identification. Anyone who wishes to do so may become one. At the same time, the law grants ‘compatriots’ the right to join organisations of ‘compatriots’, as if this right were not self-evident.
At first glance, all this seems like utter legal nonsense. Although there is a point to it, it is purely propagandistic.
In principle, courting and recruiting emigrants could be carried out just as successfully without such laws, but, firstly, this approach is more respectable. Secondly, it removes the question of where the countless organisations and funds that pamper emigrants suddenly came from and how they are financed – they are supported by the Russian state in accordance with the law. And thirdly, it gives many people the feeling that the ‘Motherland’ (or even the ‘Motherland of their ancestors’) loves them and cares for them. It regards them as its own. A very useful prerequisite for recruitment.
Three years later, in 2002, the Russian government established the ‘Government Commission for Compatriots Abroad’, headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Its remit included ‘coordinating the activities of federal executive bodies and the executive bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in implementing Russia’s state policy towards compatriots living abroad. The Commission’s remit also includes overseeing the activities of federal executive bodies in implementing the main thrusts of state policy regarding compatriots living abroad, including the use of funds allocated for these purposes, as well as other tasks related to the implementation of state policy in this sphere.” 
In 2024, the commission comprised 32 members representing key ministries and agencies, including the head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Yevgeny Primakov, and a representative of the FSB holding the rank of deputy head of department.
Thus, since 2002, the management of all legal work relating to emigrants has been concentrated within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.