Surkov spoke out against the ban on official homes abroad, noting the special needs of security forces

Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov spoke out against the draft federal law prohibiting civil servants from owning property abroad. According to his conclusion on the scandalous bill, the possibility of owning houses, apartments and plots abroad should be left to representatives of law enforcement agencies, too, Izvestia writes with reference to the text of the conclusion.

Surkov, in his conclusion on the draft amendments, noted that currently in Russia there is already a federal law “On the Federal Security Service”, which prohibits FSB employees from having property abroad. “This restriction is aimed at preventing possible influence on FSB employees by the relevant authorities of foreign states,” says the document signed by Surkov.

At the same time, Surkov notes that FSB officers often have a need to maintain real estate abroad if this property is used for official assignments and for the normal functioning of the department. This right, according to Surkov, should remain with the department so as not to disrupt its work processes.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, to control the income and expenses of officials, the reports that they must submit every year are quite sufficient. The introduction of additional prohibitions will only lead to the reluctance of new, often experienced and talented people to enter the civil service. Moreover, such restrictions violate the Russian Constitution, he notes.

Also, according to Surkov, if a ban on foreign property is introduced, many problems and questions may arise for officials due to the fact that many civil servants have real estate in the territories of the former republics of the USSR.

Let us recall that earlier Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the ban on real estate abroad “senseless” . Constitutional law experts in the Federation Council also called the bill unfounded . However, the idea was generally supported by President Vladimir Putin ( “If you connect your destiny with this country, please be so kind as to express all your interests here, including those of a material nature, and do not hide them somewhere under the carpet,” - he said in an interview with Russia Today) - which is what the authors of the bill like to refer to.