Security services law revives KGB powers

A new law which gives Russian security services sweeping powers to question people about crimes that have not yet been committed is being criticised by human rights activists as a dangerous return to the era of the KGB.

The bill, passed yesterday by Parliament, allows the FSB, the successor to the notorious spy agency, to issue warnings to people suspected of planning crimes.

Another provision in the bill allows for fines or short jail sentences to be imposed on anyone who obstructs the work of FSB agents.

The bill was first suggested in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the Moscow underground in March, and is ostensibly aimed at cracking down on insurgents in the North Caucasus and those who aid them. But the fear is that the law will be wielded as an instrument to threaten anyone who is in opposition to the Kremlin, as well as to journalists investigating sensitive stories.

The human rights organisation Memorial said the law was "partly pointless and partly dangerous for social freedoms". It said the bill was reminiscent of KGB "prevention" techniques which did not prevent actual crimes but were used as an excuse to crack down on political opposition to the Soviet regime.

After an outcry, the bill was watered down from a draft that would have forced those whom the FSB wanted to "warn" to present themselves for an interview, with the penalty of a jail sentence if they did not comply. The revised version says the FSB can warn a person that they are "on the boundary" of committing a crime, but does not specify what further measures can be taken.

President Dmitry Medvedev is now expected to sign the bill into law.

Andrei Soldatov, a journalist and expert on Russia's security services, said he was worried about the new legislation.

"Previously the FSB needed a legal reason to talk to journalists; now they don't need this - they can just say that they are making inquiries as a preventive measure," he said.

A source in the FSB told Vedomosti newspaper the powers were required so the service could have a new method of exerting pressure, especially when recruiting informants.

Previously, said the source, the FSB could only put pressure on someone if they were dealing with state secrets, but now if the service wants to recruit informants in local governments, major companies, and so on, they can use the law as a way to threaten their targets.

Medvedev brushed off criticism of the bill, and said foreigners had no right to criticise it.

"Every country has the right to improve its legislation, including laws concerning the special services," he said last week. "And we are going to do that."

- Independent