Don't Want to Live Like a Refugee
Three years after moving back to Russia, Alexander Razumovskaya still hasn't been given the citizenship he was promised. He and millions of other ethnic Russians moved back to Russia from other Soviet Republics after the USSR broke up in 1991. They were promised citizenship or permanent registration. But many of them still haven't received it. Why? The local authorities who are supposed to process them find it too lucrative to leave them in legal limbo. They refuse to give them registration, then "fine" them for not having it. Those without citizenship are also taxed 30 percent of their income, instead of the 13 percent citizens pay.