Russian President, Vladimir Putin has signed a law that will allow authorities to confiscate money, valuables and other assets from people convicted of spreading “deliberately false information” about the country’s military.
The bill sailed through the lower and upper houses of the Russian parliament, and was unanimously endorsed by the upper house last week.
The Speaker of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, said the measure includes harsher punishment for “traitors who sling mud at our country and our troops” and would “strip those scoundrels of honorary titles, confiscate their assets, money and other valuables.”
Last month, Volodin said, “Everyone who tries to destroy Russia, betrays it, must suffer the deserved punishment and compensate for the damage inflicted on the country, at the cost of their property.”
He added that under the law, those found guilty of “discrediting” the army also face being stripped of any honorary titles.
Russian officials have used the existing law against “discrediting” the military that covers offenses such as “justifying terrorism” and spreading “fake news” about the armed forces to silence Putin’s critics.
Multiple activists, bloggers and ordinary Russians have received long prison terms.
For instance, Vera Kotova, who wrote “No to war” accompanied by a heart in the snow at the foot of a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin during a protest rally, was fined approximately $240 US.
Her case garnered attention as one of the first instances of punishment under this law.
Russian state media reported last month that one of the country’s bestselling novelists, known under the pen name Boris Akunin, had been charged under the law and added to the Russian register of “extremists and terrorists.”
Another popular writer, Dmitry Glukhovsky, was handed an eight-year jail term in absentia after a Moscow court found him guilty in August of deliberately spreading false information about Russia’s armed forces.
In November, a court in St. Petersburg jailed Sasha Skochilenko, an artist and musician, for seven years for swapping supermarket price tags with antiwar messages. The month before, Russian blogger Aleksandr Nozdrinov received a 8.5-year term for posting photos of destroyed buildings in Kyiv, along with a caption implying that Russian troops were responsible.
As the conflict continues, more Russians find themselves caught in the crosshairs of these restrictive laws, which criminalize any form of criticism related to the invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war. The situation reflects the Kremlin’s efforts to tighten its grip on information and dissent within the country.
The new confiscation law would also apply to those convicted of publicly inciting “extremist activities” and calling for actions harmful to state security or “discrediting” the armed forces.
Discrediting the Russian military became a criminal offense under a law adopted as part of a sweeping government crackdown on dissent after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian state news agency said that if someone is convicted under the new law, only money, assets and property “gained through criminal means” or used for activities against Russia’s national security could be confiscated.
Draconian Soviet-era legislation authorized the seizure of housing for a variety of criminal offenses.
The law aims to suppress dissent and control the narrative surrounding Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. Critics fear that expressing their opinions could jeopardize their jobs and personal safety.
It comes as Ukraine’s military said it used naval drones to sink a Russian landing ship in the Black Sea.
The Caesar Kunikov amphibious ship sank near Alupka, a city on the southern edge of the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014, Ukraine’s General Staff said. It said the ship could carry 87 crew members.
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