The State Duma Committee on Legislation recommended rejecting the bill, which proposes to terminate Russian citizenship by birth for committing crimes and actions that pose a threat to national security. As examples, the authors cited the discreditation of the Armed Forces.
The initiative was introduced on July 21 by a group of senators, but the next day, after criticism from the head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Andrei Klishas, Ekaterina Altabaeva and Sergei Kolbin from Sevastopol, as well as Olga Bas from the Lugansk People’s Republic, withdrew their names from the bill.
Klishas indicated senator that, according to the Constitution, a Russian citizen cannot be deprived of his citizenship. After this, only the senator from Crimea Sergei Tsekov remained among the authors.
The explanatory note states that the federal law on citizenship, adopted in April, establishes cases of termination of acquired citizenship, but these measures apply only to those who have been admitted to Russian citizenship. The authors proposed extending this to citizenship acquired by birthright.
The Legislation Committee noted in its conclusion that the initiative “cannot be considered inconsistent with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, although in its essential approach it may be considered incompatible” with the rule that a citizen of the Russian Federation cannot be deprived of his citizenship.
At the same time, the committee points out that it is “obviously incorrect” to possibly extend to Russian citizens by birth such a general ground as reporting knowingly false information regarding the obligation to comply with the Constitution and legislation of the Russian Federation. This “is objectively possible only in the process of recognition as a citizen of Russia or in the case of admission to Russian citizenship, and is impossible when acquiring citizenship by birth.”
