Reference
The Directive has been prepared by the Ministry of Regional Development according to the new version of the State Programme for Assisting Voluntary Relocation to the Russian Federation of Compatriots Residing Abroad approved by Presidential Executive Order No. 1289 of September 14, 2012, On Implementing the State Programme for Assisting Voluntary Relocation to the Russian Federation of Compatriots Residing Abroad, and to implement Clause 3 of the Action Plan for Implementing the State Programme for Assisting Voluntary Relocation to the Russian Federation of Compatriots Residing Abroad for 2013-2015, approved by Government Directive No. 674-r of April 24, 2013.
The document establishes the List of Priority Settlement Territories, meaning strategically important areas of the Russian Federation. According to the Procedure for Granting Territories of the Russian Federation Priority Land Settlement Status, created to implement the state programme for Assisting Voluntary Relocation to the Russian Federation of Compatriots Residing Abroad, and approved by Government Resolution No. 1486 of December 30, 2012, a request to include a territory or a part of territory of a Russian region on the List of Priority Settlement Territories should be submitted by the highest regional official (head of the supreme regional executive body). The proposed regional territory must meet at least two of the following conditions: location in the Far East or in the Baikal Region; bordering a foreign state; a decline in the population size based on the results of the year with negative figures for the last three years; implementation of economic and investment projects of national importance.
Participants of the state programme and their families relocating for permanent residence to priority settlement territories of the Russian Federation will receive all state guarantees and social support provided by the state programme.
The document proposes to include on the List of Priority Settlement Territories ten Russian regions (the Republic of Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory, the Kamchatka Territory, the Primorye Territory, the Khabarovsk Territory, the Amur Region, the Irkutsk Region, the Magadan Region, the Sakhalin Region and the Jewish Autonomous Region).
The Directive shall come into effect on January 1, 2014.
Implementation of the provisions of the Directive will provide additional incentive for compatriots and their families to relocate for permanent residence in the aforementioned Russian regions.