In connection with the increasing frequency of drone attacks on Russian regions, the State Duma will be able to urgently develop bills relating to the regulation of drone flights. On this subject informed in the show “What was that?!” at Russian media, Alexander Khinshtein, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications. He also spoke about his thoughts on internet content complaints and “unpatriotic” statements by artists, and raised the prospect of a ban on same-sex relationships in Russia.
About drone attacks
Drones are today one of the “main protagonists of hostilities”, including terrorists. At the same time, Russian laws no longer specify what a drone is, who regulates their movement and is responsible for them. The rules for using anti-drone weapons, which are in private hands, are also not specified.
May 18 State Duma accepted in first reading, a bill that will allow law enforcement and departmental security to shoot down drones not only in the air, but also in water and on land. However, according to Khinshtein, “and this is not a panacea.” In this regard, at the end of May, the State Duma approved the proposal of four committees to establish a working group to urgently develop legislation regulating drones not only in the air sphere, Khinshtein said.
This, among other things, will solve the problem of security of objects that are not included in the list of VGO – important state objects. These include information infrastructure facilities, some enterprises in the complex, and the fuel and energy industry, Khinshtein explained.
Businesses classified as particularly dangerous are now guarded by National Guard troops or departmental agencies. Security forces, under current law, are empowered to protect these facilities from aerial drone attacks. The new bill will protect them from land and water, the MP said.
Commenting on the drone attack on Moscow on May 30, the MP doubted whether they were launched from Ukrainian territory. The purpose of the attack, he said, was not to inflict “missile and bomb strikes on vital infrastructure”, but to create a feeling of “insecurity, fear, anxiety, panic ” at people’s Place.
About cases against artists to discredit the Russian army
According to Khinshtein, Russian celebrities have the right to have an opinion that does not coincide with the state’s position, but in this case they should be denied access to state sites.
“If a person has his own position, but it does not correlate with the position of the state and the majority in society, that is his right, if he does not go beyond the law. But then this person should not win at the expense of the state. It should not occur, for example, in the halls of state theaters, ”explained the deputy.
This does not apply to commercial representations. “No one is saying they should starve,” Khinshtein noted. He also recalled that he personally secured the cancellation of the performance in one of the Moscow State Theaters with the participation of actress Yulia Aug, who “left for Estonia and was noted by a number of statements.
About whistleblowing and censorship
Khinshtein refused to consider complaints by representatives of the Safe Internet League under the leadership of Ekaterina Mizulina and the head of the Federal Project for Security and Anti-Corruption Vitaly Borodin as whistleblowers regarding various Internet content and statements of artists.
“If public figures react to certain things and do it so openly, they do not write anonymous letters, but put their last name, then it is not proof of squealing, not of denunciation and not of paranoia of 1937, but it is proof, on the contrary, of civil society,” Khinshtein said.
He cited the example of Germany and Singapore, where people “perceive the state as a common home” and, in the event of a breach, turn to the authorities.
“From the point of view of a part of our society, which still lives in the paradigm of the Gulag bars, this is snitching. From my point of view, it’s good <…> said Khinshtein. He also noted that not all complaints from the Safe Internet League and Borodin carry consequences. Khinshtein also disagreed with the fact that military censorship is in force in Russia and added that it could only be introduced “under martial law”.
On “LGBT propaganda” and the ban on same-sex relations
Book publishers who complain about a lack of understanding in police practice of legislation banning “LGBT propaganda” are being crafty and engaging in “subtle trolling”, says Alexander Khinshtein.
According to the MP, talking about whether classic literature falls under the law banning ‘LGBT propaganda’ is an attempt to ‘ridicule the most important and serious subject, take it to another level, turn it around, ‘make it a kind of show’. .”
Khinshtein wondered why, in recent years, some publishers, such as Popcorn Books, have started mass-producing “overtly LGBT propagandistic” teen books.
“You know, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I consider myself a pretty sane, sober person. But here I have thoughts, feelings that it’s not like that,” the MP said.
Popcorn Books was originally a joint venture between Bookmate* and Individuum. In October 2022, the Russian Ministry of Justice listed ZAO Bookmate Limited*, its managing director Andrey Baev* and its marketing manager Alexey Dokuchaev* in the register of “foreign agents”.
In January 2023, Popcorn Books compiled the first administrative protocol in Russia at the time on “LGBT propaganda” among all ages.
Khinshtein noted that the “absolute majority” of Russians support banning “LGBT propaganda” because “it’s a matter of survival” and “the choice of the future, because same-sex marriages, alas, physiologically cannot not have offspring”. At the same time, the deputy even rejected the “hypothetical possibility” of a legislative ban on homosexual relations in general.
“It’s a human right that I’m sure no one is going to infringe on. We’ve been through that in our history. Well, actually, there’s nothing good about it, in my opinion,” Khinshtein said.
* registered by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the register of foreign agents
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