Parliamentarians will have to notify the FSB and the Foreign Intelligence Service about traveling abroad

Deputies of the State Duma and regional legislative assemblies, senators and mayors “informed in information of special importance or top secret information” may be required to notify the FSB and the Foreign Intelligence Service before going abroad. This follows from the amendments to the laws “On State Secrets” and “On the Procedure for Departure from the Russian Federation and Entry into the Russian Federation”, submitted to the Duma on Monday by a group of deputies from the Security Committee, headed by its chairman Vasily Piskarev (United Russia). According to the amendments, the procedure for such notification will be determined by the President.

The bill also clarifies the procedure for access to state secrets. It may be denied if a citizen or his close relatives (these include spouses, parents, children, brothers and sisters) have accounts and deposits in foreign banks outside of Russia, foreign real estate, as well as in the case of possession and use of foreign financial instruments . “This will help minimize the risks of pressure on our secret carriers by unfriendly states,” Vasily Piskarev explained. According to him, in the context of the special military operation, there is an increased interest of foreign intelligence services in Russian state secrets and civil servants aware of them, and the amendments “will help both in ensuring state security and in protecting our citizens from criminal encroachments by foreign intelligence services.”

At the same time, according to the bill, citizens who are restricted by state secret legislation in their right to travel abroad will still be able to temporarily leave the country in the event of humanitarian circumstances – for example, in connection with the death or illness of close relatives.

Recall that at the end of January, the State Duma, on the initiative of its speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, introduced an amendment to its regulations, according to which ordinary deputies will be required to notify the Duma commission on mandate issues about their non-work-related trips abroad, and members of the Duma council, heads of committees and commissions – to the chairman chambers.

Ksenia Veretennikova