Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on October 20, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
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Russia proposes life sentences for minors in sabotage, citing threats from Ukraine and NATO. The law aims to strengthen state security.
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian lawmakers said on Monday they had drafted a law mandating life imprisonment for anyone involving minors in sabotage and lowering the age threshold for criminal responsibility for such crimes to 14 years old.
Since it sent military forces into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has crafted a series of laws which give state security agencies extensive powers to detain those accused of misrepresenting the war or opposing the state.
Vasily Piskaryov, chairman of the lower house of parliament's security committee, said a bill introduced into the lower house of parliament on Monday and backed by 419 out of 450 deputies would increase the security of the state.
'INEVITABILITY OF PUNISHMENT'
The bill will "increase the inevitability of punishment for those who try to undermine the foundations of our state," Piskaryov said.
"It will more toughly punish those who involve children in terrorism and sabotage, up to life imprisonment," he said, adding that the age threshold would be reduced to 14 years old.
Piskaryov said the law was needed because sabotage posed a threat to the Russian state. He accused the secret services of Ukraine and NATO members of stepping up subversive attacks on Russia including by involving minors in sabotage.
He gave no specific examples but cited data from prosecutors which said that there were 204 subversive crimes registered in 2024, but 174 in just the first half of 2025 alone.
NATO and Ukrainian authorities did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Kyiv has in the past accused Russia of involving Ukrainian minors in attempts to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure during the war.
RUSSIA SAYS WEST HELPING UKRAINE ATTACK ITS ENERGY SITES
Ukraine in recent months has stepped up attacks on Russian oil refineries and other energy installations, and Moscow says the West including major NATO powers have been supplying Kyiv with intelligence.
Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of assassinating people.
The Kremlin says a general tightening of the law is necessary to preserve order as Russia was facing an unprecedented hybrid attack from the West, which has backed Ukraine with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of arms and intelligence.
Opponents of the Kremlin, such as Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison in 2024, said that President Vladimir Putin had crafted a brittle dictatorial system which would one day be swept aside by the torrents of history.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Criminal responsibility is the legal concept that determines whether an individual can be held accountable for a crime. It often involves assessing the individual's age, mental state, and intent at the time of the offense.
Life imprisonment is a legal sentence where an individual is confined in prison for the rest of their life. It is often imposed for serious crimes, such as murder or acts of terrorism.
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