The Federation Council approved on Monday a bill expanding the powers of the Federal Security Service by allowing it to issue warnings to individuals it thinks may commit a crime, RIA-Novosti reported.
People who receive FSB warnings are obliged to obey, but the bill does not levy punishment for not noncompliance. Opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov and Eduard Limonov criticized the bill, and human rights activists promised to initiate a campaign against it, Interfax reported Monday.
The bill has to be signed by President Dmitry Medvedev to go into effect. No date for the signing has been set, but Medvedev said last week that he supported the bill.
(MT)
