The Duma adopted the GOSTINE Law

The State Duma in the second and third reading approved the government bill on GOSTIN and Gosizmen. According to RIA Novosti, the amendments are made to the criminal and criminal procedure codes. They tighten the punishment for the disclosure of state secrets and introduces criminal liability for the illegal receipt of information component of the state. 375 deputies voted for amendments, two against.

Article 283.1 is added to the Criminal Code - "The illegal receipt of the information constituting GOSTain." According to the amendments, the receipt of the information constituting a state of GOSTIAN, by abduction, deceit, bribery, blackmail, coercion or threat of violence, it is proposed to be punished with a fine of 200 thousand rubles to 500 thousand rubles or by deprivation of liberty for up to four years. If such an act with a completely group of persons, with the use of violence, with the cause of grave consequences or using special technical means intended for the unspoken receipt of information, the criminal may be deprived of liberty for a period of three to eight years.

The circle of persons who can be held accountable for the disclosure of the state of guest is expanding. In particular, in accordance with the new law, the punishment threatens not only to persons who have learned secret information during the work, but also to those who recognized them in the process of studying.

In addition, the new law expands the concept of state treason, provided for in Article 275 of the Criminal Code: the transmission of information not only to a foreign state, but also international organizations, can be recognized as espionage. When considering a bill in the Duma of the Deputy Director of the FSB, Yuri Gorbunov especially emphasized the importance of this innovation, since, according to him, it was international organizations that are often used to cover intelligence or conduct such activities independently.

The criticism of the bill was made by the leader of “Fair Russia” Sergey Mironov: before voting, he said that “blurry formulations” of the document can be used to oppress dissenters and obstruct the work of journalists. At the same time, Mironov acknowledged the need to tighten the criminal legislation and promised that the reference guides would not support the bill, but would not vote against it.

Criminal cases of the issuance of GOSTIANA are constantly initiated against scientists who carry out research by order of foreign organizations. In June, the St. Petersburg City Court sentenced two professors of the Baltic State Technical University "Voenmekh" to 12.5 and 12 years in a maximum security colony on charges of issuing secret information about the Bulava rocket. According to investigators, during a business trip to China, Yevgeny Afanasyev and Svyatoslav Bobyshev took out there "secret information components of state secret, where they transferred them for monetary reward to representatives of Chinese military intelligence."

The trial of professors was held closed. Afanasyev and Bobyshev categorically denied their guilt. They did not carry out any secret works and went to China to give lectures and conduct practical classes, scientists said.

Bobyshev and Afanasyev were arrested in March 2010, and since that time they were in custody. In July 2010, the committee in defense of scientists called them "victims of Spynomania." The Chairman of the Committee Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Ryzhov at the end of May sent a letter to President Putin about the criminal prosecution of scientists unreasonably accused of the FSB of espionage. There was no answer to this letter.

In June, scientist Igor Reshetin was released, having served almost seven years in the fabricated "spy case". He was also accused of espionage in favor of China. In conclusion, the physicist Valentin Danilov, also convicted in the "spy" case, is still in conclusion. Danilov is serving 13 years of strict regime for the "transfer of secret scientific information" to the Chinese. Reshetin and Danilov were supplied to pardon, which remained unanswered.