From here to the budget – Kommersant

Last week the State Duma approved the calendar for consideration of issues for October. The main event of the month will be the first reading of the draft budget for 2024–2026, which deputies will consider at the last plenary meeting of October. The Duma is also going to adopt laws that will allow the Russian authorities not to inform the Council of Europe in the event of the introduction or lifting of a state of emergency or martial law, and the Russian Guard to create volunteer formations along with the Ministry of Defense.

The State Duma Council at its extraordinary meeting scheduled the first reading of the draft budget for 2024 and for the planning period of 2025 and 2026 on October 26. As Kommersant reported, the main financial document was submitted to the chamber on September 29, and for the first time completely in electronic form: the entire budget package (the project itself and additional materials) fit on 14 disks. As the government says on its website, the budget is “based on the baseline socio-economic development forecast” and “implies a transition to strong economic growth in 2024 at a level above 2%.”

Before the budget, as follows from the October calendar published in the Duma database, deputies will discuss several bills introduced during the spring session. Thus, on October 10, it is planned to consider the government bill on a unified questionnaire for municipal and state civil servants when applying for a job (introduced on July 6). This form will also be filled out by employees of the prosecutor’s office, the Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the fire and customs services, the penal system and citizens entering military service under a contract. According to the authors, the amendments will unify information about employees, and information from the questionnaire can be verified by the decision of the employer’s representative.

On the same day, it is expected to consider amendments to the Criminal Code (CC) by Senator from Crimea Olga Kovitidi to clarify liability for failure to comply with a combat order (introduced on May 15). Now, according to Part 2.2 of Art. 332 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, for failure by a subordinate to comply with an order or refusal to participate in hostilities during martial law, a serviceman faces imprisonment for a term of three to ten years, provided that this led to grave consequences or caused “significant harm to the interests of the service.” The author of the initiative points out the uncertainty that arises when qualifying non-execution of an order due to the presence of such an assessment attribute as “significant harm to the interests of the service.” In combat situations, this formulation “can be applied in almost all cases,” the explanatory note says. Therefore, Ms. Kovitidi proposed deleting the controversial phrase: in her opinion, punishment should be applied if failure to comply with an order led to grave consequences or was committed by prior conspiracy or as part of an organized group. The government, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee supported the initiative, but the Supreme Court in its opinion indicated that there is no legal uncertainty in the current legislation. The relevant Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation agreed with the latter position and recommended the project for rejection, indicating in its conclusion that the current norms “make it possible to differentiate criminal liability for failure to comply with an order in special conditions.”

On October 10, a bill from a group of deputies and senators will be considered, allowing the closest relatives of Heroes of the Soviet Union, Russia and full holders of the Order of Glory to exercise the right to receive free land plots (introduced on January 16). And the plans for October 11 include a draft of the Communist Party faction introduced in the summer of 2022, which proposed establishing a new procedure for introducing draft federal constitutional laws or initiatives, the adoption of which would require changes in the system and structure of state authorities and local self-government. According to the communists, during a special military operation, such bills should be introduced only with a positive conclusion from the president. The government and the relevant Duma Committee on State Construction did not support the initiative.

On October 12, the Duma is going to ratify an agreement between Russia and Belarus on mutual recognition and execution of decisions in cases of administrative offenses in the field of traffic, and on October 18 – an agreement with Indonesia on the mutual extradition of criminals.

On October 24, deputies will consider government amendments to the Criminal Code (introduced on August 24), developed in pursuance of the Constitutional Court ruling of March 15. According to the draft, if a higher court changes the type of correctional institution to a less strict one, then the time of imprisonment to be served will be counted on the basis of one day of serving the sentence in a special or strict regime colony for one and a half days in a general regime correctional colony or two days in a colony -settlement, and a day in a general regime correctional colony is equal to one and a half days in a settlement colony.

Finally, the second reading of presidential amendments to the constitutional laws on states of emergency and martial law on the exclusion of norms requiring the Russian authorities to inform the Council of Europe in the event of the introduction or repeal of these legal regimes is scheduled for October 26 (adopted in the first reading on September 20). Vladimir Putin came up with such an initiative in connection with the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe. At the same time, the need to notify the UN Secretary General in the text will remain.

The calendar for consideration of issues for October approved by the Duma does not contain the package of bills introduced on September 23 by the United Russia group, which proposed allowing the Russian Guard, along with the Ministry of Defense, to create their own volunteer formations. Nevertheless, the chamber council on September 27 included these initiatives in its work plan for October. As Kommersant previously reported, along with the main project, the authors proposed adopting amendments to the Criminal Code, the Code of Administrative Violations, the Labor and Tax Codes. They extend to citizens serving in volunteer formations of the Russian Guard and members of their families the same amount of social guarantees, benefits and compensation that are provided to volunteers entering into contracts with the Ministry of Defense.

As part of the government hour in the Duma this month, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov (October 11), Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova (September 18) and Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuychenko (October 25) will speak.

Ksenia Veretennikova