Russian lawmakers draft new repressive laws targeting citizens abroad convicted on political charges

Lawmakers in Russia have prepared a package of draft laws that will impose new restrictions on Russian citizens convicted in absentia of political crimes. The bills, drafted by the State Duma’s Commission on Foreign Interference, will affect those found guilty of violating Russia’s laws on wartime censorship, “foreign agents,” and “undesirable organizations,” among others. 

Announcing the initiative on Thursday, lawmaker Vasily Piskarev, who leads the commission, said that the package of bills aims to establish “temporary restrictive measures for individuals who are attempting to evade criminal or administrative punishment by hiding abroad.” 

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According to Piskarev, the new restrictions will apply to those convicted of either criminal offenses or misdemeanor offenses under the following six articles of Russia’s Administrative Code: 

• Failure to comply with Justice Ministry orders to eliminate violations of the “foreign agents” law
• Violating the procedures for “foreign agent” activities
• Calls for violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation
• Calls for imposing sanctions against the Russian Federation
• “Discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces
• Participation in the activities of an “undesirable” organization

What restrictions have lawmakers proposed?

The package of bills includes the following restrictive measures:

• Ban on registering as an Individual Entrepreneur (IP) or self-employed person
• Suspension of the registration of real estate rights
• Suspension of the validity of a driver license
• Prohibition on the registration of vehicles
• Disqualification for a credit agreement (loan)
• Refusal to provide state and municipal services online
• Suspension of the validity of licenses
• Prohibition on accessing remote banking services in Russia
• Freezing (blocking) of monetary funds and other property
• Refusal to perform certain consular actions
• Ban on concluding transactions and other actions via power of attorney
• Ban on the use of an electronic signature

In his announcement, Piskarev said that the package of bills also includes “a number of other measures,” but offered no further details. 

According to the proposal, the prosecutor general or his deputy will be responsible for imposing these restrictions, and the Prosecutor General’s Office will maintain a public registry of persons subjected to them, which will be made available online.  

Piskarev went on to claim that NATO countries are increasingly refusing Russia’s extradition requests for “political” reasons and “harboring individuals accused of serious crimes.” According to the lawmaker, Russia has been denied the extradition of 109 “criminals” so far this year. “The measures we have proposed are aimed at improving the procedure for implementing criminal and administrative penalties and at defending the principle of the inevitability of punishment,” Piskarev maintained. 

According to Piskarev, the package of bills is ready for submission to the State Duma, but it has yet to appear on the parliament’s official website.