A bill was introduced to the State Duma allowing the Russian National Guard to create its own volunteer formations, as well as amendments that would introduce criminal liability for statements about Russian National Guard members fighting in Ukraine. This was reported on the State Duma website.
According to the bill, Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code, concerning “fakes” about the army, is going to be extended to “troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation.” The same amendments are proposed to be made to Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code on repeated “discrediting” of the military. In addition, the mention of employees of the Russian Guard is going to be added to Article 284.3 of the Criminal Code on “assistance in the execution of decisions” of the court in The Hague and other international authorities in which Russia does not participate.
That a bill will be introduced to the State Duma allowing The Russian Guard should include volunteer formations, deputy Alexander Khinshtein, who was previously an adviser to the director of the Russian Guard, told the day before.
“We propose to extend to the Russian Guard all the powers and mechanisms that are already established by law for the Ministry of Defense,” Khinshtein said. According to the introduced bill, the National Guard will be able to attract “to carry out certain tasks in the field of defense during mobilization, martial law, in conditions of armed conflict, during WHO«.
According to Khinshtein, the initiative is due to the fact that the National Guard actively participates in the war in Ukraine and performs tasks there “similar to the functionality of the Ministry of Defense.”
The deputy explained that National Guard employees “not only conduct combat operations and ensure martial law” in the occupied regions of Ukraine, but also “assist in protecting the state border, participate in territorial defense, and in the fight against terrorism.”
According to the deputy, if adopted, the bill will provide volunteers of the Russian Guard with the same “legal and social guarantees” as volunteers of the Ministry of Defense. Volunteer formations will be created by decision of Vladimir Putin.
In March 2023, Putin already signed a law that introduced criminal liability for “discrediting” mercenaries and members of volunteer formations and disseminating “fakes” about them.