President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a new law to boost Russia's security service, restoring a Soviet-era practice of issuing warnings to people it believes are about to commit a crime, the Kremlin said today.
President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a new law to boost Russia's security service, restoring a Soviet-era practice of issuing warnings to people it believes are about to commit a crime, the Kremlin said today.
Critics say the law could be used to intimidate independent journalists and opposition groups and undermines Mr Medvedev's promises to promote civil rights.
It gives the Federal Security Service or FSB, formerly headed by prime minister Vladimir Putin, the right to issue warnings to people "whose acts create the conditions for the committing of a crime," a Kremlin statement said.
The FSB was formed from the remains of the Soviet-era KGB, which was broken up in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed. Its influence grew greatly when Mr Putin became president in 2000 and ordered it to lead the fight against Islamist rebels.
Rights groups and opposition journalists say the government also uses the FSB to exert pressure on its critics.
Supporters of the bill say it will reduce crime and help people to realise what they are doing is potentially illegal.
Critics say it fails to spell out the legal consequences of receiving a warning and its vagueness will invite abuse.
The bill was significantly watered down after its first reading, when it drew an outcry from normally loyal opposition parties.
Parliament removed from the government's draft text a provision that would have allowed the FSB to issue people with a legally binding summons and impose up to 15 days in prison as punishment if they refused to come.