State Duma adopts law to pause court proceedings and enforcement action against troops serving in Ukraine

The deputies of the State Duma have passed in third reading a bill to pause legal proceedings and the enforcement of sentences against Russian troops serving in Ukraine. The deferral applies to mobilized troops, army volunteers, and contract soldiers, as explained in the announcement on the official Duma website.

Court proceedings will be put on hold with respect to Russian citizens engaged in combat in the Russian army or other “military formations created in accordance with the Russian federal law,” as well as mobilized and volunteer troops in the period of their training, assignment, and combat exercises.

Similar deferrals will be available to people serving in the border-protection units of the FSB.

The law excludes child support payments and damages in connection with the death of a breadwinner from the class of court decisions whose enforcement can be postponed. At the same time, it requires banks to pause debt collection from combat participants.

In late October, the State Duma passed an amended mobilization law that permitted military service for people with outstanding felony convictions. Among the few exceptions were felonies involving sexual violations against minors and crimes classified as “terrorism” or “extremism.”