The Russian State Duma unanimously passed legislation significantly expanding Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s authority to deploy the armed forces abroad, The Moscow Times reported on May 13.

Amending existing federal laws on citizenship and defense, the new measure allows Putin to use the military to “protect” Russian nationals facing arrest, detention, or criminal prosecution in foreign countries.

The legislation specifically targets cases where Russians are detained by foreign courts acting without Moscow’s participation, or by international tribunals that Russia does not recognize, according to an explanatory note accompanying the bill.

The expansion of Putin’s military powers comes amid a series of warnings from NATO intelligence agencies that the Kremlin is actively preparing for a potential war with European nations. Earlier this year, Danish intelligence assessed that Russia could launch a large-scale European conflict within five years, while the German BND (Federal Intelligence Service) warned of potential Crimea-style provocations in the Baltic states, according to The Moscow Times.

  • SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    I love how everything in Russia is “unanimous”.

    Everyone is on board, the same direction, onward and upward…

    Well, everyone in power.

    • drolex@sopuli.xyz
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      1 month ago

      Well we’ve been talking about various epidemics lately: coronavirus, hantavirus, etc. But in Russia there’s this ‘jumping in an open elevator shaft virus’ and the only known vaccine is total support of the regime.

  • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    So pretty much what Magastan had long decided before it even became Magastan.

    Except that in the current state, Russia’s threats feel a bit toothless.