The lower house of Russia’s parliament will vote on 22 July on a significantly tightened bill that imposes sweeping restrictions on citizens living abroad who have been convicted — including in absentia — of a range of politically charged administrative and criminal offences. According to the published amendments, the legislation will now require banks to block access to mobile applications and online accounts, prohibit all real estate transactions, and deny consular services such as passport renewal. The measures will take effect the day after an individual’s name is added to a register maintained by the Ministry of Justice, and the law itself will enter into force immediately upon being signed by the president, without any transition period.

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, whose comments were carried by the Interfax news agency, described the bill as a tool to ensure “the inevitability of punishment” and referred to those targeted as “traitors” who must “answer to the full severity of the law.” The legislation applies to Russians who have left the country and are deemed to be evading sentences for offences including “discrediting” the armed forces, participating in the activities of an “undesirable” organisation, violating the regulations on “foreign agents,” and calling for sanctions against Russia or for separatism. Deputies argue that the measures are necessary because, according to the head of the Duma’s security committee, the number of politically motivated refusals by Western states to extradite fugitives has risen sharply, with 109 such refusals recorded in the first eleven months of 2025 alone.

Viewed from European capitals, the bill represents a further legal instrument to pressure exiled dissidents by severing their financial and administrative ties to Russia. The original draft, adopted at first reading in December 2025, already envisaged asset freezes and the suspension of consular services. The second-reading version, however, adds an explicit ban on using mobile banking apps, orders the cadastral authority to return property registration documents without consideration, and removes an earlier provision that would have delayed the law’s entry into force. Courts will also be empowered to draw on frozen funds to cover legal costs, damages or defamation awards, with any remainder potentially directed to support family members still in Russia.

This legislative push coincides with reports of a parallel, extrajudicial mechanism for freezing assets. The independent outlet Agentstvo, cited by Radio Liberty, has reported that an interdepartmental commission on countering the financing of terrorism and extremism has already blocked the bank accounts and property of around 100 cultural figures linked to the “SlovoNovo” festival and the “Dar” literary prize, without prior court rulings or notification. Separately, President Vladimir Putin signed a law in June, effective from 1 September, that permits the confiscation of property and funds belonging to Russians abroad accused of acting “against Russia’s interests.”

The bill is scheduled for its second reading on 22 July, with the third and final reading likely to follow swiftly before the current Duma convocation concludes its work. If approved by the Federation Council and signed by the president, the restrictions will become effective immediately upon publication, closing one of the last legislative windows of the current parliamentary term.