On earth, in heaven and at sea – Kommersant

The State Duma on Thursday unanimously adopted in the first reading the bill of the United Russia group, which gives law enforcement agencies the right to stop the movement of any unmanned vehicles in their area of ​​​​responsibility. Now such actions are allowed only in relation to aerial drones. The only agency that did not support the document was the Ministry of Economic Development, whose officials the co-author of the United Russia document Alexander Khinshtein reproached for being out of touch with reality.

Billsubmitted to the Duma at the end of March by United Russia members Alexander Khinshtein, Vasily Piskarev, Ernest Valeev and Anatoly Vyborny, allows law enforcement agencies (the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the National Guard, the FSO, the SVR, the Federal Penitentiary Service, the Main Directorate of Special Programs of the President), as well as departmental security organizations to stop the movement any drones. Recallin December 2019, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a law empowering the security forces to stop the illegal movement of unmanned aerial vehicles, including shooting down or stopping their work by suppressing or converting remote control signals.

Now law enforcement agencies will be able to stop drones not only in the air, but also in ground, underground, surface and underwater space.

On May 15, shortly before the consideration of the document in the first reading, Mr. Khinshtein announced in his Telegram channelthat the Ministry of Economic Development did not support the bill, considering it “premature” and in need of improvement. The deputy cited the official response of Deputy Minister Maxim Kolesnikov, where he speaks of the need to first legally regulate the unmanned industry itself, together with robotics, and then move on to countering drones.

Presenting the bill to the deputies at a meeting on May 18, Alexander Khinshtein recalled that in 2019, when the law on aircraft was adopted, the development of unmanned vehicles seemed “still quite fantastic”, and now it is “realities that are ahead of the wildest fantasies.” “We see that, unfortunately, these technologies are actively used today for sabotage and military purposes. These examples already exist in our territory. In particular, in Sevastopol, several cases of the use of sea drones by the armed forces of Ukraine to carry out attacks on both civilian and military ships located there on the roads were registered. He also cited statistics, according to which, during the special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian Guard alone detected more than 2.5 thousand enemy unmanned aerial vehicles, the Federal Penitentiary Service stopped the flight of 81 drones last year, and the Federal Security Service prevented 208 drone overflights over guarded objects.

According to Mr. Khinshtein, the very mechanism for preventing the movement of drones does not change: it is either about suppressing a remote signal or destroying the device.

By the second reading, the authors will propose to expand the list of law enforcement agencies that will be allowed to stop drones, including units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the state courier service. At the same time, the deputy lamented the lack of state control in the unmanned industry and the lack of means to counter drones. “When drones, excuse me, reach the Kremlin, of course, it is necessary to restore order in this area!” urged United Russia, proposing to create a working group for this with the participation of legislators and representatives of relevant departments. It should be noted that earlier Alexander Khinshtein had already appealed to the Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev and the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Alexander Neradko with a request to introduce a temporary moratorium on the use of drones in Russia.

The deputies had no doubts about the need for the proposed measures, but there were clarifying questions.

So, Alexander Aksenenko (“A Just Russia – For Truth”) was excited by the financial side of the problem. He noted that, according to the financial and economic justification of the bill, its adoption will not require additional expenditures from the budget. But from what means then will the units of law enforcement agencies be equipped with weapons to combat drones, the deputy asked. Alexander Khinshtein replied that such equipment would be supplied as part of the state defense order, but everyone “will only be in favor if the funds increase.”

“Therefore, when we consider the budget, I hope that we will see your amendment on additional funds for these purposes,” United Russia transparently hinted to the Socialist-Revolutionary.

And Ernest Valeev added that all law enforcement agencies submitted positive feedback on the project to the profile committee and did not demand additional money.

Mikhail Matveev (KPRF) recalled that in addition to fighting enemy drones, there is a need to develop similar domestic devices and many teams are leading them.

“How will test flights of drones be regulated so that they are not shot down?” the communist asked.

Alexander Khinshtein explained that issues related specifically to aircraft have been regulated today and “it is necessary to develop comprehensive legislation that will answer all questions.”

Andrey Alshevskikh (United Russia) asked to clarify the position of the Ministry of Economic Development, which did not support the bill. Mr. Khinshtein emphasized that “all other departments and the government as a whole” supported the initiative, and expressed surprise that the ministry issued a conclusion on the “premature initiative” in April 2023, “in the context of sabotage and terrorist attacks.” Explaining his attitude to this fact, the deputy quoted a member of the State Duma from 1907 to 1917, Pavel Milyukov: “I don’t know what it is, stupidity or treason.”

Finally, Nikolai Kolomeytsev (KPRF) in his speech raised the topic of air defense and called for the imprisonment of “one of the generals who developed the air defense system and plundered funds.”

As a result, 379 deputies voted for the adoption of the bill in the first reading, there were no votes against or abstentions.

Ksenia Veretennikova