Unity without opposites – Picture of the day – Kommersant

The autumn session of the State Duma, like the previous spring session, was marked by “legislative support” for a special military operation. Its main results were the legal consolidation of the territorial results of the special operation, the adoption of urgent measures to support the mobilized and the intensification of the fight against external and internal enemies. And the unanimity with which, as a rule, these decisions were made, according to Dmitry Kamyshev, head of the Kommersant’s policy department, allows us to say that the “Crimean” consensus in the Duma at the end of 2022 was finally replaced by the “Donbass” one.

Thematically ended on December 22, the session turned out to be very similar to the previous one: as in the spring, the fall Duma agenda was based on four semantic blocks.

The first of them can be conditionally called historical. In mid-February 2022, the deputies made history by adopting an appeal to the president with a request to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), which became a kind of prelude to the special military operation in Ukraine that began on February 24. And on October 3, the Duma has already begun the legal formalization of its first results, ratifying the agreements on the entry of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into the Russian Federation, as well as approving four relevant federal constitutional laws.

Further, everything went according to the already well-known “Crimean scenario” of 2014: the lower chamber began to accelerate the integration of new entities into the Russian legal system, only on a “quadruple” scale. In particular, laws on the procedure for the application of the Civil Code and enforcement proceedings in these territories have already been adopted, and bills on the formation of courts and the specifics of the use of the norms of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure have passed the first reading.

The second thematic block was again connected with the solution of military and military-industrial issues. But if in the spring the emphasis was on the legislative improvement of contract service in the army and clarification of the norms regarding the functioning of the “defense industry”, then in the fall the main topic, of course, became partial mobilization. True, the Duma did not have time to influence the mobilization process itself, in which many shortcomings were revealed (the amendments introduced by the opposition on new deferrals from conscription for certain categories of citizens have not yet been considered), but actively worked on measures to support the mobilized and their families. It was the deputies who became the authors of the most notable bills on this topic – for example, on granting mobilized credit holidays and the right to maintain jobs “in civilian life”, on releasing their families from penalties for housing and communal services debts, on preserving the business of mobilized entrepreneurs.

The government remained responsible for the third block – counteracting anti-Russian sanctions. In the spring, of course, there were more initiatives on this topic, but in the fall they were on a larger scale. In particular, these include the new federal budget, as well as bills on a new design of “budget rules” and on the extension of counter-sanction relief in the field of corporate law. And the law on a single allowance for low-income families with children, approved in an expedited manner, also fits into the anti-sanctions agenda, since it was adopted under the slogan of protecting the well-being of Russians in the face of confrontation with the West.

Finally, the fourth thematic block in the work of the Duma has traditionally been the fight against external and internal enemies. So, after the deserters and marauders, whom the deputies “took care of” back in the spring, it came to saboteurs: in the Criminal Code added several new compositions, providing for various kinds of involvement in sabotage work, punishment up to life imprisonment. The discussion of these amendments predictably caused another surge in discussions about the return of the death penalty, but here the Duma majority remained true to the precepts of the Chairman of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin, who recently once again stated that it was impossible to return the “capital punishment” without changing the Constitution.

Continued in the autumn and improvement foreign agent laws, launched in the spring session by the adoption of a new basic law “On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence.” The deputies completed the consideration of a large package of amendments to various laws that started back in the spring, imposing new restrictions on foreign agents: for example, they are now prohibited from organizing rallies, participating in educational activities, being members of election commissions and serving in law enforcement agencies. In addition, instead of several articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which provided for punishment for different categories of foreign agents, one was introduced that combines all the previous compositions.

Well, the most resonant autumn initiative on the topic of fighting enemies became the law on the complete ban on propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations. The “broad public discussion” promised by its authors took place without the participation (at least explicitly) of representatives of the LGBT community and ended with the unanimous approval of the bill, the introduction of which was justified by the deputies as a “civilizational confrontation with the West.” And for those who will soon have to pay hefty fines for violating this law, it remains to console themselves with the fact that the Duma, at least so far, has not heeded the proposals to punish violators under criminal procedure.