There will be more informers

Nearly 37,000 signatures had been collected by the end of the day on March 1 against the new law on "serfdom." This was the name of the bill on propiska, adopted on February 15 in the first reading, introducing fines and prison terms for living outside the place of registration.

Even in the Soviet Union, the institution of propiska did not work so hard: it was really difficult for a person to move around the country, but there were no such huge fines and criminal prosecution of people. In spirit, the law of the USSR was associated with the habitual desire to count and understand where someone was. In the new registration bill, there is a view of people as parolees, as if we are already criminals and must report on our every gesture, where we went, who we talk to and where we live for more than 90 days.

I consider this law in the context of previous laws that were drafted in the State Duma: the law on rallies, on slander, the anti-orphan law - they are all repressive in nature. There is also a political subtext here: the law will be applied to any opposition citizen who needs to be controlled. In addition, the law is a corruption trough for local officials and security forces who can profit from people's problems.

The law is surprising in its illogicality and illiteracy. It is announced as a tool to combat "rubber" apartments, but we do not see that sanctions are applied in it specifically and only to citizens who have many people or only foreigners registered in an apartment. In Moscow, the law will affect almost 50% of the population.

People do not live where they are registered, because they are not provided with housing, it is difficult for them not only to have their own housing, but also to rent. Citizens have just learned to survive in such conditions, and then a “cobblestone” falls on them in the form of this law and makes them all illegal immigrants. Most of the citizens simply physically will not be able to fulfill the law and will be forced to live illegally. Zealous neighbors will "surrender" each other, there will be more problems within unfriendly families: there will always be someone who can "squeal" on an unloved relative