Senators from the regions occupied by Russia have submitted to the State Duma a bill that proposes to deprive Russians of citizenship acquired at birth. The document was published on the website of the lower house of parliament.
The authors of the project are Senator from the annexed Crimea Sergey Tsekov, senators from the annexed Sevastopol Ekaterina Altabayeva and Sergey Kolbin, as well as a representative of the self-proclaimed LPR Olga Bas.
Currently, the law «On Citizenship», which comes into force in October 2023, states that only those who acquired it on the basis of a federal constitutional law can be deprived of Russian citizenship, international agreement or admission to the citizenship of the Russian Federation. Now, senators are proposing to remove this wording, which means that the law will also apply to those who received Russian citizenship at birth.
The basis for the deprivation of citizenship, according to the law adopted this year, is the decision of the court, which found a person guilty of certain crimes. Here are a few articles from the list:
- parts 3, 4, 5 of Article 131 of the Criminal Code (rape);
- Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code («fakes» about the army);
- parts 2, 3 of Article 228 of the Criminal Code (possession of drugs);
- article 280 of the Criminal Code (calls for extremism);
- article 338 of the Criminal Code (desertion).
In addition, people who create a “threat to national security” can be deprived of citizenship. The senators from the occupied territories also propose to apply this rule to those who received citizenship by birth.
“The draft federal law proposes to extend in these cases the termination of citizenship, including to persons who acquired citizenship by birth or on the basis of recognition as a citizen of the Russian Federation. The implementation of this draft federal law will increase the guarantees of the equality of citizens before the law, the equality of the constitutional and legal status of all constituent entities of the Russian Federation, ”the explanatory note says.
Senator Andrei Klishas commented on this initiative as follows: «I have already expressed my position on this issue and I want to emphasize once again that if a federal politician, including a senator of the Russian Federation, introduces a law that contradicts the Constitution, the foundations of the constitutional order, then for such a politician this is a serious reason to think about whether he can hold his office.»