The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament on Friday proposed confiscating the property of critics who move abroad and speak out against Moscow’s crackdown on Ukraine.
After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, Russian authorities introduced long prison terms for those who criticized the Kremlin’s crackdown on the pro-Western country.
On Friday, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the existing law was not enough to crack down on critics.
“Some of our citizens consider it possible to insult Russia, its citizens, soldiers and officers, and openly support criminals, Nazis and murderers,” he said on the Telegram messaging app, using the Kremlin’s term for Ukrainian authorities.
Volodin stated that under Russian law, these comments could be considered “rehabilitating Nazism” and discrediting the armed forces.
He called critics “criminals” who like to live abroad and rent Russian-based properties.
“They feel they have impunity, believe that justice cannot reach them,” said Volodin, who is a close ally of Putin and a toe of the Kremlin line.
He said that in the current situation, the “right” introduces a criminal law that allows the authorities to seize property from the person.
He did not provide further details.
If enacted, the new law would be a throwback to the darkest days of the Soviet Union.
Separately, a member of the Kremlin’s rights council, Kirill Kabanov, pointed to a series of calls by Russian politicians to punish Kremlin critics who have fled.
But he stressed that it was important to first define the term “traitor” legally.
“Any form of treason must be punished,” Kabanov wrote.
“You have to start by defining the legal concept of ‘traitor’,” he said, adding that the law on treason may need to be amended.
He said members of the Kremlin’s rights council planned to discuss the issue with legislators “in the near future”.
Asked to comment on Volodin’s initiative, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russians who have left the country should not be summarily punished.
“The enemy is the enemy, one must fight them, but the other is a citizen of our country and must remain a citizen of our country,” said Life, a pro-Kremlin media outlet.
Peskov said the subject was complicated but did not back down from Putin’s critics.
“First, we need to develop a definition of what constitutes a crime,” he said.
The start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine and the subsequent military mobilization have caused tens of thousands of Russians to flee abroad.