Under the current criminal code, treason is defined as an action aimed at damaging the country’s “external security.” The bill, submitted to the Duma on Friday, would expand that definition to include damaging the country’s “constitutional order, sovereignty, territorial and state integrity,” the Moscow Times reports with reference to Kommersant. The bill would also expand the definition of espionage, adding international nongovernmental organizations and their representatives to the list of forbidden recipients of state secrets, the newspaper writes. Representatives of Russian NGOs fear that the new legislation could be used to step up pressure on their organisations.
