Special civil operation – Newspaper Kommersant No. 211 (7412) dated 11/15/2022

A group of senators submitted amendments to the State Duma on the termination of acquired Russian citizenship for crimes against military service committed during the period of mobilization or martial law. They expand the list of grounds for similar sanctions contained in the President’s Citizenship Bill, which was passed on first reading in April. At the same time, there are no amendments to deprivation of citizenship for discrediting the army and a number of other “new” crimes, which were introduced the day before by state media, in the relevant committee, Kommersant was told in the Duma. Deputies expect to adopt a new law on citizenship before the end of the year.

Amendments to the bill “On Citizenship”, developed by senators Andrey Yatskin, Grigory Karasin, Viktor Bondarev and Andrey Klishas, ​​posted on November 14 in his Telegram channel Mr. Klishas, ​​who heads the committee on constitutional legislation in the Federation Council. The authors propose to expand the list of crimes contained in the draft, the commission of which entails the termination of acquired Russian citizenship, by adding 14 articles from Chapter 33 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Crimes against military service”. This, in particular, voluntary surrender, failure to comply with an order, desertion, unauthorized abandonment of a military unit or place of service, evasion of military service duties by feigning illness, violation of the rules of combat duty, border and guard service, deliberate or negligent destruction or damage to military property, as well as its loss. We are talking about the commission of these crimes during the period of mobilization, martial law, in wartime or in conditions of combat operations.

“This is quite justified, since the commission of such acts during these periods creates a serious threat to the security of the country,” Andrei Klishas explained.

The amendments are proposed for the second reading of the new edition of the law “On Citizenship”, which should replace the current law. Project was introduced president at the end of 2021 and accepted on first reading April 5, 2022. It provides for a reduction in requirements for more than 20 categories of applicants for the acquisition of Russian citizenship. At the same time, the institution of termination of citizenship is being introduced for foreigners who have received it for reporting false information or committing a number of crimes (along with terrorism, these are serious crimes against the state or related to drug trafficking).

Earlier, on the morning of November 13, RIA Novosti reported that Vladimir Putin allegedly submitted amendments to his draft to the Duma, proposing to deprive acquired citizenship for fakes about the army and its discredit, participation in undesirable organizations, as well as calls to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. The initiative was even commented on by high-profile United Russia members: the head of the security committee, Vasily Piskarev, said that the amendments were “absolutely fair,” Dmitry Vyatkin, the first deputy head of the United Russia faction (ER), promised that the deputies would promptly consider them, and the head of the control committee, Oleg Morozov – that they are “legitimate in meaning”.

Meanwhile, the head of the committee on CIS affairs, Leonid Kalashnikov (KPRF), assured Kommersant on Monday that no such amendments had been submitted to his committee. In total, according to him, more than 60 amendments have been proposed to the bill, including from senators. There is no rush to consider the presidential draft in the second reading, but it must be adopted by the end of the year, the deputy noted. Commenting on proposals to expand the list of grounds for termination of citizenship, he said that he was opposed to massively dragging articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation into the law “On Citizenship”.

Seventeen of the amendments made to the committee were proposed by the first deputy head of the committee, Konstantin Zatulin (ER), but, according to him, the president’s state legal department did not approve them. United Russia did not approve of the idea of ​​termination of citizenship for discrediting the army: according to him, it is “ambiguous”, since criticism can be “honest”.

A Kommersant source in the United Russia faction confirmed that at the moment there are no such amendments, “especially from the president,” and the United Russia members who commented on them simply “trusted the agency.”

Recall that on September 20, the day before the announcement of partial mobilization, the State Duma adopted amendments to the current law “On Citizenship”, according to which foreigners who have entered into at least a one-year contract to serve in the Russian army can obtain Russian citizenship in a simplified manner and without providing residence permit. The number of people who benefited from this benefit was not reported.

Maria Makutina