The State Duma has developed a new anti-terrorist article

The chairmen of the State Duma committees on information policy and security, Alexander Khinshtein and Vasily Piskarev (both represent United Russia), together with their colleagues in the lower house of parliament, developed amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (CC) on violation of the requirements for anti-terrorist protection of objects. They propose to introduce a new element of the crime into the criminal legislation, which, in their opinion, “will have a serious preventive value and will prevent new tragedies.” Amendments will soon be submitted to the State Duma. Khinshtein claims that they have already been supported by the Russian government and the Supreme Court.

“If the violation of the requirements for the anti-terrorist protection of objects (territories) negligently caused serious harm to human health or major damage (from 1 million rubles), the punishment will be up to 3 years in prison. The same act that led to the death of a person will be punished more severely: up to 5 years. In case of death of two or more persons – up to 7 years in prison,” the deputy wrote in his Telegram channel. He clarified that “in today’s conditions, the problem of anti-terrorist security of facilities is of particular importance.” “It is necessary that all officials are aware of the extent of their responsibility,” he added. Khinshtein declined to comment to Vedomosti, Piskarev did not answer calls.

The amendments were developed a few days after the high-profile sabotage in the Bryansk region, for which the so-called “Russian Volunteer Corps” claimed responsibility. On March 2, a group of armed men crossed the border and attacked the village of Lubechane in the Klimovsky district. Saboteurs fired at a moving car, killing two people. A 10-year-old boy who was in the car was injured. The child was operated on and taken to Bryansk, now nothing threatens his life. An attack was also made on the village of Sushany, where, after a drone attack, a residential building caught fire. In the evening in Sushany, a car of the Russian Guard blew up on a mine, as a result of which four security officials were injured.

On the evening of the same day, the FSB reported that the saboteurs were “squeezed out” back to Ukraine, where they were hit by artillery strikes. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the sortie of Ukrainian saboteurs in the Bryansk region a terrorist attack, and the next day he discussed with the permanent members of the Security Council the measures of anti-terrorist protection of objects run by law enforcement agencies. “Today we have one, but a very important issue – about measures for the anti-terrorist protection of objects under the jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies,” the head of state said. Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, made a report at the meeting.

Major General of the FSB in the reserve, Alexander Mikhailov, supports the bill of Khinshtein and Piskarev, since in recent years, according to his assessment, the degree of responsibility for counter-terrorism measures has “dropped to a level below the plinth.” “Anti-terrorist commissions should work in all subjects and municipalities, which are obliged to consider relevant issues. But lately I haven’t heard anything about the work of such commissions, although in each subject it is headed by a governor,” Mikhailov told Vedomosti. In his opinion, the responsibility for violating the requirements of anti-terrorist protection “should be assigned to all persons who are directly or indirectly related to objects of strategic importance and critical infrastructure.” “The only question is how the courts will determine the degree of guilt,” the officer concluded.

The anti-terrorist security of facilities is already protected by the current version of the Criminal Code, Dmitry Gorbunov, a partner at the law firm Rustam Kurmaev and Partners, believes. “For example, Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (negligence) is quite applicable to these legal relations. It is a matter of supplementing it with qualifying signs and an appropriate sanction,” he told Vedomosti.