A Russian draft law has proposed seven years imprisonment for publically disclosing information about the import of goods into Russia banned under global sanctions over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia continues to rely on many high-tech products made in the West, such as microchips, which are prohibited from being exported to Russia. Many Russian industrial businesses, especially those in the defence industry, depend on these products to remain in business.
Russia has repeatedly been accused of bypassing Western sanctions by establisheding complex logistical schemes through intermediaries in third countries.
“In the current context of external sanctions pressure, maintaining the established production and technological chains that ensure the strategic development of the Russian economy acquires special significance,” said an explanatory note for the draft submitted to parliament by the government.
Many Russian officials and businesspeople have been calling for logistics and payments information to be classified as a state secret.
The authors of the draft referred to websites disseminating leaked customs data, as well as information appearing in traditional media or on social media about logistics schemes for delivering sanctioned goods.
The draft’s explanatory note said the objective of such items was “to harm specific economic entities, sectors of the economy, and, more broadly, the economic interests of Russia.”
It comes as US president Donald Trump has threatened to impose stiff taxes, tariffs and sanctions on Moscow if an agreement isn’t reached to end the war.
He said in a post on his Truth Social platform: “Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way – and the easy way is always better. It’s time to “MAKE A DEAL.” NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!”
Mr Trump added he would be doing a very big favour to Russia and Putin by getting them to bring an end to “this ridiculous war”. Earlier this week, he said the conflict, which is nearing the end of its third year, was “destroying” Russia.
Speaking on Thursday, The Kremlin said it saw nothing particularly new with the threat of US sanctions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Trump had often applied sanctions against Russia in his first term as president.
Mr Peskov said on Friday that Putin is ready to hold a phone call with Mr Trump and Moscow is waiting for word from Washington that it is ready too.
When asked if Putin and Trump would use this weekend to hold their first phone call since Trump’s inauguration - an essential precursor ahead of a face-to-face meeting for deeper talks - Peskov said:
“Putin is ready. We are waiting for signals [from Washington]. Everyone is ready. It is difficult to read the coffee grounds here. As soon as there is something, if there is something, we will inform you.”
