Government opposes tougher penalties for kidnapping children during conflict

The Russian government did not support the bill on additional regulation of criminal liability for abduction of minors during a military conflict or mobilization. The authors of the project, Senators Irina Rukavishnikova, Inna Svyatenko and Vyacheslav Timchenko, proposed adding the corresponding provisions to Article 126 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (kidnapping). However, the government considered that the commission of any crime during a military conflict or mobilization is already an aggravating circumstance.

“Additional legislative regulation is not required,” says the draft recall of the Cabinet of Ministers (quoted from TASS). The government added that the current criminal code already considers kidnapping of minors as a separate crime.

The senators’ bill provided for imprisonment for a term of 8 to 20 years for kidnapping of minors committed during a military conflict. In January TASS reported that the bill was supported by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

“She (initiative. – “b”) will prevent cases of forcible removal of children to Ukrainian territory under the pretext of evacuation from the combat zone,” Ms. Rukavishnikova explained the need for the bill then.

Ukrainian authorities and a number of Western countries accuse Russia of illegally removing children from the territory of Ukraine. The Kremlin responded to these accusations by evacuating the children from the combat zone. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of “assisting in the illegal removal of children.”

What happens after the entry of Russian troops into the territory of Ukraine – in online broadcasts “Ъ”.

Evgeny Belousov