A bill toughening punishment of foreigners for illegal investigative actions in Russia has been submitted to the State Duma.
According to the document, officials of foreign states and international organizations, in which Russia is not a member state, may face up to five years in jail for conducting illegal investigative procedures and operational-search activities on the territory of the Russian Federation.
“Collecting evidence, conducting
operational-search activities bypassing the existing procedures, interrogating
our citizens (conducted in person or remotely), obtaining samples for expert
research, for example, fingerprints, genetic material, etc., attempts to lure
Russian people for subsequent arrest in foreign states — all this poses a threat to the security of our citizens and the state, and therefore, it should
become a criminal offence,” said Vasily Piskarev
Vasily Ivanovich
, co-author of the amendments, the Chairman of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control.
He added that there would be such punishment if there were no signs of espionage in these actions. “In that case, the sentence will be more severe,” said the parliamentarian.
