1. Revoke the effect of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin dated January 31, 2016, No. 34.

2. Restore the effect of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin dated February 21, 1992, No. 231 in its entirety.
3. In order to implement the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin dated February 21, 1992, No. 231, develop an Act on the restoration of statehood for Russian Germans within the borders of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Volga Germans as of August 28, 1941.

Project author: V. A. Kryukov.

Attachments:

1. Explanatory note.
2. Text of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin dated January 31, 2016, No. 34.
3. Text of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin dated February 21, 1992, No. 231.

Explanatory Note

On August 28, 1941, the Soviet Government and the communist regime committed an act of genocide - an ethnic cleansing in the form of deporting Russian Germans residing in the territory of the Volga Germans State - the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Volga Germans, to remote areas of Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

As a result of further genocide against the Volga Germans, approximately 20% of the population perished due to hunger, diseases, and deliberate extermination.

During the war, the Volga Germans were sent to labor armies, labor colonies, and Soviet concentration camps. After the war, until 1956, Germans were required to register with special commissariats.

During the Soviet era, the Volga Germans remained the only unrehabilitated people.

On February 21, 1992, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, the first democratically elected President of the Russian Federation, conducted democratic reforms and issued a Decree providing for the restoration of the statehood of the Volga Germans, which had been destroyed by the communist regime of the USSR.

However, the activities of destabilizing neo-communist revanchist forces and the need to suppress the insurgency in the terrorist separatist enclave in Chechnya prevented these plans from being realized.

By the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation V. Putin dated January 31, 2016, No. 34, the plans for the revival of German statehood on the Volga were practically destroyed. The course was set for the revival of Soviet chauvinism and the denial of the crimes of the communist regime of the USSR.

Today, as we return to truly democratic norms of life and repent for the genocide of the German people of the Volga, we restore the effect of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin dated February 21, 1992, No. 231 in its entirety, and declare the beginning of work on the Act on the restoration of statehood for Russian Germans within the borders of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Volga Germans as of August 28, 1941

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated February 21, 1992, No. 231 "On Urgent Measures for the Rehabilitation of Russian Germans"

In order to implement the Law of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic dated April 26, 1991, "On the Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples," and to create necessary conditions for the national development and restoration of statehood of Russian Germans, I hereby decree:

1. To carry out, upon the proposal of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for National Policy, other state authorities, and public organizations of Russian Germans, urgent measures for the rehabilitation and phased restoration of statehood of Russian Germans within the Russian Federation.

As the first stage, without infringing on the interests of the local population and considering the experience of establishing German national districts in the Altai Territory and the Omsk Region, it is deemed appropriate to establish:

• a German national district in the territory of the Volgograd Region,
• a German national district in the territory of the Saratov Region.

2. To the Government of the Russian Federation:

the formation of an Organizational Committee, based on the recommendations of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for National Policy and the administrations of the Volgograd and Saratov regions, to consider issues and prepare proposals related to the establishment of a German national district in the Volgograd region, a German national district in the Saratov region, and the restoration of statehood for Russian Germans. This committee should include representatives from the relevant stakeholders.

to review proposals from the authorities of the Volgograd and Saratov regions, as well as other regions, and from public organizations of Russian Germans regarding the creation of national districts and national rural Councils in areas of compact residence for Russian Germans, taking into account the opinions of the local population. These proposals should be submitted for approval by the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation.

to establish the Russian part of the Intergovernmental Russian-German Commission to prepare a joint program of activities aimed at ensuring the phased restoration of statehood for Russian Germans.

3. The State Committee of the Russian Federation for National Policy, the Ministry of Press and Information of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and the administrations of the regions and territories should conduct the necessary explanatory work in connection with the implementation of this Decree.

President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin Moscow, Kremlin, February 21, 1992, No. 231

DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON AMENDMENTS TO THE DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION DATED FEBRUARY 21, 1992, NO. 231 "ON URGENT MEASURES FOR THE REHABILITATION OF RUSSIAN GERMANS"

1. Amend the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated February 21, 1992, No. 231 "On Urgent Measures for the Rehabilitation of Russian Germans" (Bulletin of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, 1992, No. 11, art. 548) as follows:

a) in the preamble:

replace the word ", creation" with the words "and creation";

exclude the words "and restoration of statehood."

b) In paragraph one of Article 1, replace the words "and phased restoration of statehood for Russian Germans within the Russian Federation" with the words "socio-economic and ethno-cultural development of Russian Germans";

c) In Article 2:

exclude the words "and restoration of statehood for Russian Germans" from the second paragraph;

replace the words "Russian-German commission for the preparation of a joint program of activities aimed at the phased restoration of statehood for Russian Germans" in the fourth paragraph with the words "Russian-German Commission on Russian German Affairs".

2. This Decree shall enter into force upon its signing.

President of the Russian Federation V. PUTIN Moscow, Kremlin January 31, 2016 No. 34