War killings, at the covert front

LAAS LEIVAT

In 2002 Vladimir Putin authorized a new law making extra-judicial killings legal. It gave Russian authorities wide-ranging official permission to assassinate foreign enemies and domestic opponents at both home and abroad.

The legislation allowed Putin to boost the Czarist/Soviet/Russian historical tradition of “wet affairs” and “special services”. Named “On Countering Extreme Activity”, the law legalizes targeted assassinations for not only threatening national security, but also for “crimes” such as “diminishing national dignity” and “publicly expressing slander or false accusations of persons who hold Russian government positions”.

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