Federation Council adopted amendments to the Criminal Code providing for punishment for desertion and looting

The Federation Council approved a package of amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for punishment of up to 10 years in prison for desertion and up to 16 years for looting, and also supplements the code with the concepts of “mobilization”, “martial law”, “wartime”.

Amendments suppose the appearance in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of new articles and norms that will toughen the existing offenses “during the period of mobilization, martial law, hostilities and armed conflict.” For example, aggravating circumstances include the commission of a crime in such conditions, and not only “in conditions of armed conflict or hostilities”.

The toughening of punishment applies to almost all articles of the chapter on military crimes, and some norms have been reformulated. Article 332 (“failure to comply with an order”) now punishes military personnel not just for failure to comply with an order, but for refusing to participate in hostilities. Maximum penalty: 3 to 10 years. Some of the norms are aimed at tightening discipline, including the suppression of desertion.

The new articles include article 356.1 (“looting”) and article 352.1 (“voluntary surrender”). Looting will be considered “seizure of other people’s property” committed with a mercenary purpose (the maximum punishment is from 8 to 15 years in prison). Voluntary surrender in the absence of signs of treason (i.e., going over to the side of the enemy) will be punished by a term of 3 to 10 years.

Today, September 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on partial mobilization in Russia. Later, a decree on this without the seventh paragraph was published on the Kremlin website.

After Putin’s speech, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu explainedthat those in the reserve are subject to conscription within the framework of partial mobilization, he estimated their number at 300,000 people, which is a little more than 1% of the total mobilization resource of Russia, which is 25 million people, he explained.