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The World Congress of Compatriots is a token institution, whereas the World Co-ordinating Council, established at the Second Congress in 2006, is a highly effective and very active body that holds its meetings in Moscow four times a year (the 49th meeting took place in June 2024). 
Whilst the members of the World Council of Compatriots (organisations) are simply scattered across the globe, not organised locally and not under the control of the World Council’s Presidium, the World Co-ordinating Council consists of its own representative offices (residencies) – the country co-ordinating councils (CCCs). These, in turn, consolidate the activities of local organisations on the ground and are made up of individuals. 
For example, in Cyprus there are only two MSRS members on record, both established back in the 1990s and neither of which is outwardly active as an association – the Association of Russian Businesspeople in Cyprus (President Yuri Pyanikh) and the ‘Horizon’ Association of Russian-speaking Residents of Cyprus (Chairman Igor Nosonov). 
At the same time, the Co-ordinating Council of Russian Compatriots in Cyprus, chaired by Dmitry Apraksin, consists of about fifteen people, almost every one of whom represents a separate organisation and leads an extremely active public life. Cultural and patriotic events are held almost weekly under the strict supervision and with the support of the Russian Embassy in Cyprus and the local office of Rossotrudnichestvo. 
Strangely enough, the MSRS and the VKSRS exist in parallel, without organising joint events and practically ignoring one another, despite the fact that some leaders of MSRS member organisations simultaneously sit on the VKSRS presidium or are members of the KSO, such as Pyanikh and Nosonov. Perhaps there are some long-standing bureaucratic intrigues in Moscow behind this. 
As of 2024, the Co-ordinating Councils of Russian Compatriots (KSORS) exist in 105 countries and, according to the standard rules governing their activities, ‘are umbrella organisations, under whose auspices various civil society organisations come together on a voluntary basis in the countries where compatriots reside, including, in particular, Russian-language media established by compatriots on a self-financing basis, Russian nurseries, Russian schools, clubs for Russian compatriots, and so on.”  
The country-specific Co-ordination Councils generally comprise the heads of local community, cultural and educational organisations, meaning that their actual reach is enormous. 
The Chair of the World Coordination Council (WCC) oversees the work of all WCC members and, in turn, receives instructions and funding from the embassy and Rossotrudnichestvo, which are in fact different departments of the same ministry – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
In 2024, the World Co-ordination Council comprises 25 members from various countries.  The Chair of the WCC is Mikhail Drozdov, Chair of the Russian Club in Shanghai; judging by the details of his biography, he is a member of the security services specialising in China. 
In reality, the World Co-ordination Council is run by the Government Commission for Compatriots Abroad, which is headed by Foreign Minister Lavrov. 
A significant proportion of the Kremlin’s propaganda and recruitment activities within the émigré community is carried out through the Co-ordination Councils. This has even intensified since the start of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Only the US branch of the World Co-ordination Council has been affected, and that was back in 2020. Its head, Elena Branson, and other members of the US branch found themselves under investigation by the FBI in connection with violations of US legislation on foreign agents.  
As stated in a US Department of Justice statement: “Elena Branson has, since at least 2011, acted on behalf of the Russian government and Russian officials to advance Russia’s interests in the US, including by coordinating meetings between Russian officials and US politicians, businesspeople and established organisations in the US for the purpose of publicly promoting the policies of the Russian government.” 
According to ‘Insider’, Branson (Chernykh) has been charged with ‘deliberately failing to register as a foreign agent, as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), whilst working on behalf of the Russian government and receiving instructions and funding from high-ranking Russian officials’. In addition, she is accused of participating in a fraudulent scheme to obtain visas for Russian officials and their relatives, and of making false statements to the FBI — there are six counts in total in the indictment.” 
The Russian Embassy’s response to the charges against Branson was predictable: “Washington prohibits Russian compatriots from maintaining ties with their historical homeland and preserving their cultural and linguistic heritage,” the Russian Embassy stated. 
In principle, the US authorities merely required Branson and her colleagues to register as official representatives of Russia. But that would have meant relinquishing the status of the World Congress of Russian-Speaking Compatriots (WCRSC) as an ‘informal, non-political and non-commercial organisation’, which would have completely stripped away the cover of ‘civil society organisations’ not only from the WCRSC itself but also from all other similar organisations. 
Some members of the US KSORS left for Russia, whilst the organisation itself announced the winding up of its activities in November 2021.  
In principle, all KSORS organisations worldwide engage in the very activities of which Branson was accused; that is, after all, why they were set up. However, so far only in the US has a law been found that has succeeded in putting a stop to these activities.