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The institutions of the European Union might take note of the fact that in the Kremlin the office lights burn not only late at night, but also through the weekend. It was no surprise to me at all therefore to find a number of communications in my inbox this sunny Sunday morning, including this very interesting press release on a "draft Federal Law On Security" as submitted by President Medvedev to the State Duma.
 
 
"The draft Federal Law On Security (hereinafter the draft bill) defines the basic principles of national security, public security, environmental security, personal security and other types of security provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The draft bill also specifies the scope of activities designed to ensure security, the relevant powers of the President of the Russian Federation, Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Government of the Russian Federation and federal executive bodies, as well as the duties of the regional authorities of the Russian Federation and local authorities with regards to security.

The draft bill specifies the status of the Russian Federation Security Council in accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with the draft bill, the Security Council of the Russian Federation is a constitutional advisory body which provides the information underpinning the decisions of the President of the Russian Federation on security and defence matters, military capability development, defence production, military technical cooperation between the Russian Federation and foreign states, and other issues relating to the protection of the constitutional order, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, as well as on international security cooperation.

As provided for in the draft bill the main tasks of the Russian Security Council include: guaranteeing the conditions so that the President of the Russian Federation can exercise his or her authority on security matters; elaboration of public policy in the field of security and monitoring its implementation; projection, detection, analysis and evaluation of security threats, assessment of the likelihood of war and military threats, the development of measures to neutralise these threats, as well as a range of other tasks.

The draft bill also lists the duties of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, its composition and the way its activities are organised."
 
The penultimate paragraph is of particular interest. To my mind, this echoes Putin's notorious Federal Law 153-FZ (actually a law amending existing legislation) which defined "extremism". This law allows for Russia's federal security services to "eliminate" extremists outside of the nation's borders. 153-FZ categorises critics of the state, or of elected politicians, as "extremist". It was under this law that Alexander Litvinenko, a British citizen, was murdered in London, allegedly by a "former" KGB agent who now sits as a deputy in the Duma. It is worth repeating here the fact that 153-FZ requires the President to authorise such acts. Circumstantial evidence suggests, therefore, that Vladimir Putin gave the green light for the killing of Litvinenko. London MEP Gerard Batten, speaking in the European Parliament on May 28th 2008 desribed this as "an act of war on the UK by Russia".
 
This draft bill would appear to be extending the powers of the President, allowing him absolute discretion over the depolyment of Russia's armed forces.
 
In the context of a Medvedev presidency, we might not be too concerned. However, it is highly likely that in 2012 we will see the return of Putin: that will be a different situation altogether.