30 Apr 2023; AA: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday approved a law introducing the punishment of stripping away citizenship for certain crimes, including posing a national security threat and sabotage.
Under the law, which will come into force in 180 days, only naturalized Russians can have their citizenship stripped, not Russians by birth.
Among crimes that could lead to termination of citizenship are terrorism and actions that pose a threat to the national security of the country, sabotage, facilitating sabotage, or organizing a sabotage conspiracy.
Naturalized Russians may also be stripped of citizenship for violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, discrediting its armed forces, desertion, or public calls for extremism or unleashing an aggressive war.
Other grounds include using forged documents, knowingly reporting false information while obtaining a Russian passport, encroaching on the life of a state or public figure, the destruction or damage of military graves, and the rehabilitation of Nazism.
The decision on termination is the responsibility of the Interior Ministry and its regional and local offices and the Foreign Ministry and its diplomatic missions and consulates.
The law also introduces a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for more than 20 categories of persons, including for those who signed a contract for service in the Russian armed forces for at least a year.
Putin also signed a decree stipulating terms of the legal status of residents of "new regions" who have decided not to become citizens of Russia.
According to the document, residents of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions who wish to retain Ukrainian citizenship and did not take the oath of a citizen of the Russian Federation will be considered foreigners.
Those areas were annexed by Russia last year, amid the ongoing war on Ukraine, in a move not recognized by the US, EU, UN, or Türkiye.
Putin also signed a decree allowing the state to confiscate property for violations of the procedure for foreign investments in Russian strategic economic companies.
The president also approved tougher punishments for sabotage, terrorism, and actions that have created a threat of loss of life or were aimed at destabilizing the country.
He also approved new criminal liability for helping to execute illegal decisions of international organizations.
