Russia’s State Duma takes up bill to freeze assets, block bank transfers of Russians who criticize authorities from abroad

Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, approved amendments ahead of a second reading of the bill “On Temporary Restrictive Measures Against Persons Located Outside the Russian Federation Who Are Evading a Sentence.”The bill covers Russian citizens convicted in both criminal and administrative cases. The amendments, as approved, are intended to make punishment “inevitable.”The set of two bills passed its first reading in December 2025. The second reading is scheduled for July 22.The laws were originally set to take effect on March 1, 2026. The version prepared for the second reading moves that date up to official publication.Legislators also amended the text to allow court costs and damages to be recovered from frozen funds or from a special account into which income from those subject to the law would be deposited — a provision absent from the first-reading version.Amendments added for the second reading would also require banks to block app and online account access for “persons located outside the Russian Federation who are evading the execution of a sentence,” barring them from making money transfers. The earlier version had only broadly prohibited “the use of remote banking systems at credit institutions on the territory of the Russian Federation.”The second reading also tightens restrictions on real estate transactions. Where the earlier version called for suspending cadastral registration of real property or registration of rights to it, the updated text specifies that Rosreestr must return the relevant documents without review.Under the amendments, the Justice Ministry — not the Prosecutor General and his deputies — will maintain the registry of “persons located outside the Russian Federation who are evading the execution of a sentence.”At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.