Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a law that imposes sweeping restrictions on thousands of exiled regime critics, a move that human rights organizations are calling the 'civic death law.' [source_ref:claim:8] The legislation, formally titled 'On temporary restrictive measures against persons located outside the Russian Federation and evading the execution of a punishment,' targets Russian citizens living abroad who have been convicted of a crime or certain administrative offenses in Russia.
Under the new law, the Russian government can freeze bank accounts of targeted individuals, prohibit them from selling real estate and vehicles in Russia, and deny them access to consular services abroad, such as obtaining a passport or power of attorney. The Russian Ministry of Justice will decide who is affected by the law.
In essence, this is about the deprivation of citizenship.
Lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov of the legal aid organization Perviy Otdel (First Department) said the law's authors sought to include as many restrictions as possible to negatively affect Russians who have left the country. He described the legislation as essentially a deprivation of citizenship.
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin defended the law, describing it as a form of necessary justice for enemies of the state living abroad. He stated, 'They must understand that punishment will catch up with them in any case,' [source_ref:claim:13] and called those who leave the country and harm it 'traitors' and 'criminals.'
The law applies to those branded as 'foreign agents.'
The law applies to those branded as 'foreign agents,' which includes more than 1,000 people and organizations in Russia.
A very terrible document that strips a huge number of people of their civil rights.
The Russian State Duma unanimously passed the law before it was signed by President Putin. The Russian Ministry of Justice has a website section titled 'Protection of the Sovereignty of the Russian State: History and Present' that includes photos of individuals labeled as 'enemies of the people.' The ministry has also designated The Moscow Times as an 'undesirable' organization.
An estimated hundreds of thousands of Russians have left the country in the last four years. The Russian government has prohibited the use of the terms 'war' or 'invasion' in the media, officially using the term 'special military operation' instead. Shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, the Duma passed laws against alleged 'false information' about the military and its 'discrediting.'
