A close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed today to confiscate the assets of Russians who have left the country and “insult” the state and the Russian armed forces from abroad.

The proposal by Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma (Russia’s lower house), is directed against Russian opposition figures who have condemned the war in Ukraine and fled Russia to avoid arrest.

It is noted that many of these individuals have already been called “foreign agents” by Putin.

“Some of our fellow citizens consider it possible to insult Russia, its inhabitants, soldiers and officers, openly support bandits, Nazis and murderers,” Volodin said. “Their goal is clear – to win favor and try to maintain their well-being abroad,” he said in Telegram.

Volodin said that the existing legal tools to combat extremism or defamation of the Russian armed forces, which are already punishable in Russia with fines and imprisonment, are not enough to combat these “scumbags” abroad.

“Being abroad, they offer real estate for rent and continue to receive payments from Russian citizens. At the same time, they allow themselves to publicly throw mud at Russia, insult our soldiers and officers. They feel that they have gone unpunished, they believe that justice will not get to them,” he said.

Therefore, according to Volodin, it is necessary to supplement the Criminal Code with an article on the confiscation of the property of such people in order to compensate for the damage caused by them. However, at the moment it is unclear whether such a measure can reach the Russian parliament and how soon.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.