Spy, get out

The State Duma adopted in the first reading a law that made it easier to betray one’s homeland. Previously, only the one who divulged state secrets was to blame. Now the one who heard her is also to blame. The law developed by the FSB is not new - it was already submitted to the State Duma in 2008. But then-President Dmitry Medvedev blocked its adoption. This time, experts say, the law has every chance of being adopted.

On September 21, the State Duma unanimously adopted in the first reading a bill introduced by the government, according to which anyone who illegally received information constituting a state secret becomes a criminal. In addition, the bill contains an amendment to Article 275 of the Criminal Code, where it will be considered a criminal offense to “provide financial, logistical, consulting or other assistance to a foreign state, international or foreign organization or their representatives in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation.” .

The law applies to everyone who has access to state secrets - these are officials, employees of strategic enterprises (that is, the entire mining industry), employees of the military-industrial complex. It may even concern statistical departments - according to Russian laws, statistical information can be of a strategic nature. For example, the number of crops can tell the enemy something in case of war.

Previously, it was possible to betray one’s homeland only by divulging state secrets. Now you can become a traitor if you become familiar with it without access to state secrets. Andrei Soldatov, editor-in-chief of the website Agentura.ru, dedicated to the problems of special services and intelligence, gives an example: “There is, say, a closed institute where some employees have access to state secrets. Suddenly the FSB finds out that state secrets have leaked to the United States. Under the current law, jail time “Only the one who had access to the state secret and disclosed it will go to prison along with him. That is, the number of those who can fall under the article of state treason becomes many times larger.”

However, Soldatov believes that if the law is adopted, there will not be a sharp increase in the number of criminal cases: “The FSB is not interested in putting many people in prison, they are interested in keeping as many people under control as possible. The bill is exactly that.” allows." The fact is that, according to the new amendments, treason would move from the category of crimes of medium gravity to serious crimes. According to the internal rules of the FSB, when investigating serious crimes, it is much easier to obtain permission to conduct surveillance and wiretapping.

According to Soldatov, the amendment to Article 275 of the Criminal Code on providing assistance to a foreign state and international organizations directed against the security of Russia will lead to greater self-censorship. “No one understands yet which consultation is considered harmful and which is not. When everything is unclear, everyone fears that it could be used against them. This will worsen the climate among the expert community. Contacts with foreign colleagues are important for any expert community,” - says the expert.

The bill was already submitted to the State Duma in 2008. But then-President Dmitry Medvedev blocked it after the bill received harsh reviews. “The head of state paid close attention to the opinions that were expressed on this matter in the media and society as a whole,” Vladislav Surkov, who served as first deputy head of the Kremlin administration, explained the president’s decision at the time.

“Now there is a tendency towards isolationism, towards the perception of everything from the outside as risky. It is completely understandable why they decided to return to this bill. I think it will be adopted with minimal amendments in a hurry,” says political scientist Evgeniy Minchenko.