Vladimir Putin signed a law according to which Russians will be able to serve in the FSB; the innovations will not affect “foreign agents” and people who use drugs. The document was published on the website of legal acts.
The changes affected the law “On the Federal Security Service”, Article 16.4 “On conscription military service in the FSB bodies”. The special service will also now be mentioned in paragraph 3 of Article 36 of the law “On Military Duty and Military Service.”
Not all categories of conscripts will be able to serve in the FSB. Exceptions will be Russians with second citizenship or permission to reside in another country, people with a criminal record, those who take drugs or psychotropic drugs without a doctor’s prescription, as well as “foreign agents.”
The amendments also allow the Russian Guard to create volunteer formation. According to deputy Alexander Khinshtein, the amendments are related 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.”
When the lower house of parliament adopted the bill in the first reading, on October 17 , there was no mention of conscript service in the FSB.
In addition, today Putin signed a law that introduces criminal liability for statements about Russian Guardsmen fighting in Ukraine. According to it, Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code on military “fakes” applies to “national guard troops.” The same amendments were made to Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code on repeated “discrediting” of the Russian military and to a similar administrative article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code.