Lawmakers introduced bills to "prevent interference in Russia’s domestic politics" in the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly]. Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced them last week. The legislation calls for prison terms of up to five years and possible confiscation of property for discrediting the Armed Forces or for urging sanctions against the country. It also mandates up to seven years of imprisonment and possible confiscation of property for what it describes as "self-serving assistance" to international organizations that exclude Russia—including the International Criminal Court—and to foreign state bodies. In addition, authorities plan to label individuals as "foreign agents" if they cooperate with "foreign...
The State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] has approved in its first reading a bill that would grant military authorities up to one year to enforce a conscription decision. According to the bill, "A decision to call up an individual for statutory military service, if not enforced during the conscription campaign when it was issued, can be enforced within one year from the date of adoption."
Russian senators plan to introduce a bill to the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly] to reduce the time needed to pay insurance compensation to wounded soldiers and families of those killed during the war. Under the proposed legislation, military unit commanders would have a maximum of 15 days to verify the required documents, after which the Ministry of Defense would have another 15 days to disburse the payments. The bill's authors argue the changes would streamline the compensation processes and significantly reduce current delays, which now often exceed a month. Under existing regulations, unit commanders have 10 days from the time they receive documents from family members to complete verification and another...
Authorities in the Sverdlovsk region have raised the sign-up bonus to 2.5 million rubles [$29,100] for those entering a contract with the Ministry of Defense to participate in the war. This follows an increase in September 2024, when the bonus was set at 1.5 million rubles [$17,500]. With the inclusion of the federal component, the total bonus now reaches 2.9 million rubles [$33,800].
New bills will target “foreign agents and individuals who fled the country,” says Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the State Duma [lower house of Russia’s Federal Assembly]. According to him, courts should try citizens living abroad in absentia if they spread military “fakes,” discredit the Armed Forces, or call for acts of terrorism, extremism, mass unrest, separatism, the launching of an aggressive war, or the rehabilitation of Nazism. Moreover, lawmakers will likely toughen penalties for calling for sanctions and for discrediting the Armed Forces, imposing prison terms of up to five years and allowing property confiscation. Volodin also called for sentences of up to seven years for anyone “assisting international organizations in which...
Vladimir Putin signed a decree forming a State Council commission to support combat veterans of the war in Ukraine and their families. He named Governor of the Astrakhan region Igor Babushkin to chair the commission. Putin also signed a decree to provide one-time payments to individuals who sustained disabilities while taking part in combat operations in Donbas since May 11, 2014. Those with Group I disabilities will receive 6.05 million rubles [$68,800]; those with Group II will receive 5.24 million rubles [$59,600]; and those with Group III will receive 4.42 million rubles [$50,200].
Law enforcement officers in Saratov conducted a raid, checked the IDs of 70 individuals, and handed draft notices to 20 men who had obtained Russian citizenship but failed to register for military service. A similar operation took place in Samara, where law enforcement officers reportedly identified 10 citizens who had not registered for military service, transported them to the draft office, and charged each of them with a misdemeanor.
Vladimir Putin stated that convicts recruited for the war against Ukraine should receive combat veteran status. He also proposed a unified nationwide standard to support the families of those involved in the invasion, while allowing regional authorities to enhance those provisions with their own measures.
The State Duma [lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia] approved a bill in its first reading that would criminalize the failure to report acts of sabotage.
In the Murmansk region, a court in the town of Kovdor has sentenced a previously convicted former Wagner Group mercenary to two years and eight months in prison. The convict signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense immediately after the sentence was announced. The man was accused of nine episodes of property theft committed since September 2023.