The State Duma has approved in a first reading a bill that would allow the Federal Security Service to issue warnings to people or organizations deemed at risk of committing crimes in the future.

Not complying with directives in the warning would be a punishable offense, the ruling United Russia party said on its web site.

The bill also introduces fines and short-term arrests for people who ignore demands of FSB officials or hinder them while on duty.

United Russia was the only Duma faction to back the bill during the Friday vote, Interfax reported.

Vladimir Gruzdev, a senior United Russia deputy, shrugged off concerns of human rights activists that the bill would legitimize the abuse of power by the FSB.

"Only someone who is absolutely unaware of the specifics of the activities of state security agencies can talk about the impairment of rights," Gruzdev said in a statement on his party's web site.

But he acknowledged that the bill must be amended before a second reading to ensure that it “would serve to prevent crime and not return us to 1937,” the worst year of Stalinist purges.