The speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that the State Duma is preparing a law to introduce higher taxes for people who left the country, as many did after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. This was reported by Reuters on Sunday. .

Due to the fear of mobilization, Russians crossed the border between their native country and Georgia on footPhoto: Zurab Tsertsvadze / AP / Profimedia

“It is correct to cancel the benefits for those who left the Russian Federation and to introduce an increased tax rate for them. We are working on the corresponding changes in the legislation,” Volodin wrote in the Telegram application, quoted by AFP.

The number of Russians who have left the country since the beginning of the war is unknown, Reuters notes. In early October, some local media reported that some 700,000 Russians had left the Russian Federation following the announcement in September of the partial mobilization of 300,000 conscripts. Then the Moscow regime rejected this figure.

In Russia, income tax of 13% is automatically withheld by local employers. Russians who work abroad and are tax residents must pay tax independently, according to the Federal Tax Service of Russia.

“It’s quite clear why they ran away,” Volodin said. “Those who realized that they made a mistake have already returned. The rest must understand: the vast majority of society does not support their act and believes that they betrayed their country, family and friends,” he concluded.