The State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, is preparing a bill to confiscate the property of “a number of citizens who have left the country” in the face of the war or the repression of those who denounce it. Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had denied the authorities would take the action just five days earlier. “It is impossible [aprobar esta ley] This would open some Pandora’s boxes,” said the Russian presidential deputy, who in the past has rejected other unpopular initiatives before adopting them, such as mobilizing young people to send them to Ukraine.
So far, no concrete details of the bill have been leaked. A source familiar with the initiative told state news agency Ria Novosti that “the Russians who have left the country and are causing harm with their actions” will be affected. “As far as I know, no official instructions on this subject have been received from any commission. The work is being carried out by MEPs on their own initiative,” the same source explained.
The bill has the support of the Kremlin’s elite, although the Russian leader has remained on the sidelines over the damage it could do to his popularity. State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin opened the door to confiscation of assets last week. The senior official explained that “some [ciudadanos] They publicly smear Russia by believing they can get away with it and thinking that the (security) agencies can’t catch them.” Volodin specifically targeted compatriots who blamed the army from abroad for its actions in Ukraine criticize, and advocated the expropriation of their businesses and real estate in the country.
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His words also garnered the support of a key committee in the upper house of parliament. The head of the body responsible for constitutional and state-forming legislation, Andrei Klishas, suggested that the initiative could be taken forward by introducing several amendments to the penal code.
But Putin’s spokesman tried to defuse the debate last week: “They are all our citizens, all the same, and all may have different reasons for leaving them. We must fight for those who have not taken the path of a genuinely hostile attitude towards our country.
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Since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russia has seen two major mass emigrations abroad. The first at the beginning of the war and the second when the Kremlin last ordered a partial mobilization of its population of military age 21.09.
The total number of people who left and did not return has not been published by the government and the number is very difficult to calculate with the available border records as many Russians may have left only temporarily, as is the case with tourists. According to a conservative estimate by the independent newspaper The Bell, more than half a million citizens left the country for good last year.
One of the sectors most affected by the displacement of thousands of workers is technology. Parliament began processing another bill at the end of December aimed at banning telework for expatriate workers. However, authorities have been forced to make exceptions in some companies to avoid further hitting the economy. The Ministry of Digital Development warned that this restriction could lead to a “loss of competitiveness” compared to other countries due to a “slow down in the development of digital platforms and solutions”.
Putin recommends remembering the Nuremberg trials
Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled a country the Kremlin controls with an iron fist, and Putin himself has predicted in the past that this war will bring “a natural and necessary self-detoxification of society.” [rusa]“. The President was in Saint Petersburg this Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Leningrad blockade. There he laid flowers at the Piskaryovskoye Cemetery memorial, visited the Obukhov armaments factory and, along with several WWII veterans, watched a preview of a Russian film about the Nuremberg Trials, the court that sentenced the surviving Nazi leadership to war Crime.
“You must have seen this film. It’s a very important fact. These works protect historical memory,” the Russian president said of a court used as a reference by numerous voices, from the Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelensky to that of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, to launch a similar process for the circle of demand power of the Kremlin.
“Russia’s victory in special operations is inevitable. It is based on the unity and cohesion of the Russian people; in the bravery and heroism of our combatants; and in the work of the military-industrial complex,” Putin warned while inspecting the Obukhov polygon. The Russian leader also revealed that workers at military factories could soon be exempted from front-line service as the army needs more weapons.
Ukraine fears a major Russian offensive in the coming months, if not weeks, and Moscow is bracing for that and a long war. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin this Wednesday met the new governing council that will have to supply the armed forces and gave his team a message that time is of the essence: “All the material and technical means that are still needed to complete the plans of the last year should be sent to the troops no later than February.”
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