Putin signs law to confiscate property from critics of Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed off on a law to confiscate the property of opponents of the war and enemies of the state.

The law provides for confiscating property allegedly acquired through the dissemination of alleged false information about the Russia military or by calls to endanger Russia's national security.

How the law will be applied, or those offences defined, remains unclear. A decree with Putin's approval was published in the Russian legal database on Wednesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tried to pre-empt criticism of the new law on Wednesday, saying that "we believe that expressing any concerns a priori is unfounded."

Peskov denied that the new law amounted to a return of a notorious Soviet law on confiscating the property of enemies of the people.

Particularly under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, hundreds of thousands of people were declared enemies of the people, expropriated, and either sent to camps or executed.

Since Putin ordered the full-scale Russian invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has repeatedly tightened its laws to crack down on any perceived criticism of the war.

The alleged dissemination of false reports about the Russian army, for example, is now punishable by long prison sentences.

The law on the expropriation of opponents of the war was introduced by lawmakers at the beginning of the year and passed unanimously in the lower and upper houses of parliament, the State Duma and the Federation Council.

The head of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, described it as a "law against rascals."
Hundreds of thousands of Russians have left the country since the full-scale invasion began, and a number of prominent Russian celebrities have criticized Putin and his war from abroad.

There has been considerable debate in Russia about how to prosecute and punish critics abroad, since they cannot be arrested and imprisoned.