State Duma deputies have adopted in the first reading and as a whole a bill that allows people who have not registered for military service to be stripped of their acquired Russian citizenship. This was reported on the website of the lower house of parliament.
After approval by the Federation Council and signing by Vladimir Putin, amendments will be made to the laws «On Military Duty and Military Service» and «On Citizenship.» Among the authors of the bill are State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, head of the Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov, United Russia members Irina Yarovaya, Alexander Khinshtein and Vasily Piskarev, Communist Party Chairman Gennady Zyuganov and LDPR Chairman Leonid Slutsky.
The explanatory note to the bill stated that “foreign citizens and stateless persons (male) who acquire citizenship of the Russian Federation and are of draft age are required to register for military service at their place of residence,” however, “instances where such persons evade military service after receiving citizenship are widely publicized.”
According to the authors of the initiative, «such examples cause mass indignation among the population, which negatively affects social and public sentiment, undermines the authority of the institution of citizenship, and promotes disrespect for the law, including among «new citizens.» The amendment on deprivation of acquired citizenship was called by the deputies «an important innovation in the bill.»
According to the law, the Ministry of Internal Affairs bodies will have to provide information about men «in respect of whom a decision has been made to accept them into citizenship of the Russian Federation.»
Before this, Vyacheslav Volodin proposed increasing the term of military service to two years for foreigners who have received Russian citizenship. The amendments were planned to be considered before the end of the current session of the State Duma. However, today the lower house of parliament announced its end (initially it was planned that it would end on August 5).
In February, deputies Alexey Zhuravlev, Alexander Borodai and Mikhail Sheremet introduced a bill that wanted to raise the maximum age for conscription into the army for men who received Russian passports. Instead of 30 years, they proposed increasing the figure to 50. The State Duma did not consider this bill; it is now in the archive.