July 08, 2022

Soviet Law Against Sabotage May Return


Soviet Law Against Sabotage May Return
Ammar Sabaa

According to Meduza, the National Anti-Corruption Committee (NAC) has proposed resurrecting the Soviet-era law against “wrecking” (or “sabotage”), adding back an article to the Criminal Code.

The head of NAK, Kirill Kabanov, wrote a letter to Senator Andrei Klishas, in which he said that the criminal code does not contain “the concept of harm and material damage as it relates to defense capability, national and economic security.” Therefore, he said, he believes that people responsible for “a decrease in the country's defense capability, for a negative impact on domestic industrial and financial markets, for disruption of the state order" cannot be held accountable if there is no direct material damage.

Kabanov proposed that Klishas evaluate the possibility of returning a sabotage statute to the criminal code, “considering modern realities and the law of the Russian Federation.”

Klishas said that Kabanov's proposal “at a minimum is worthy of serious discussion… when you consider the successes of our institutions at ‘import substitution’ and in other areas, one would really like to return an article on wrecking to the criminal code."

The USSR’s 1930 criminal code did not have a separate article about wrecking per se, but several points in the section on “counterrevolutionary activity” dealt with wrecking, and several million persons were repressed (imprisoned and/or killed) in the Soviet era as “saboteurs.” Most cases against “saboteurs,” according to Mediazona, were initiated under Article 58.7 – “Obstruction of the Normal Activities of State Institutions and Enterprises… for Counter-revolutionary Purposes.”

In 1960, sabotage appeared as a separate offense in the Criminal Code of the USSR. It was described by Article 69, in the section "Especially Dangerous State Crimes." The article provided for up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property. The RSFSR Criminal Code article "Sabotage" remained in effect until 1996, when a new Russian Criminal Code came into force.

In 2015, Valery Rashkin, at that time a member of the State Duma from the Communist Party, suggested that the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, and the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office, return the “Sabotage” article to the Russian Criminal Code. No law enforcement response to his proposal was reported.

 

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955