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The legislative commission of the Russian government has approved a draft official report on the initiative to seize the personal belongings of those convicted for spreading false information about the Russian armed forces and public calls for desertion, according to RTVI and RBC.
The bill was initially proposed by United Russia MPs Irina Yarovaya, Vasily Piskarev, and Elena Yampolskaya. They suggest adding “crimes” under Criminal Code Art. 270.3 and 280.4 to the list of acts punishable by seizure of property in the interests of the state, thus amending CC Art. 104.1.
Article 270.3, the so-called “army fake” article, stipulates punishment for intentionally spreading false information about the actions of Russia's Armed Forces.
Article 280.4 addresses “public calls to activities aimed at undermining national security.” This includes calls for sabotage, disclosing state secrets, high treason, espionage, and furthering the activities of organizations labeled “undesirable”, as well as calls for exporting technologies, weapons, and military equipment, illegal migration, bribery, illegal border crossing, facilitating illegal migration, desertion, looting, refusal to carry out orders in the army, mercenarism, and so on.
Deputies want seizure to apply to those found guilty of the listed crimes, but only in the event that they had been motivated by self-interest or material gain. Objects eligible for seizure include instruments of crime and equipment in possession of the convict, such as computers and devices.
As RTVI points out, the government supported the MPs’ initiative unequivocally, without adding a single critical remark to the draft report.