Russia’s parliament has approved a bill allowing the central bank and other key financial institutions to operate defense systems and allow their employees to carry weapons. The goal is to provide institutions with protection against drone attacks without the involvement of special forces. This was pointed out by documents published by the Russian State Duma this week and reported by Reuters and the CNBC news portal.
- The Russian parliament passed a law allowing financial institutions to operate defense systems.
- Employees of these institutions will be able to carry weapons to defend the facilities.
- The aim of the measure is to protect the financial infrastructure from increasing drone attacks.
- Defense systems will be deployed at the Sberbank central bank and cash carriers.
- Financial institutions and Russian companies plan to independently finance defense and electronic systems.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has gradually increased its drone attacks on Russian territory, with the biggest focus being on energy infrastructure. Limiting the production and export of oil from Russia thus reduces revenues to the state treasury and limits Moscow’s options for financing the war.
Defense systems against drones will be located near the central bank, Russia’s largest commercial bank Sberbank, as well as some other key financial institutions, such as the Russian Association for Cash Collection. It is the largest carrier of cash and valuables in the country.
The institutions will finance the operation of defense systems themselves, said Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma Committee for Financial Markets. The head of the largest association of businessmen in Russia, Alexander Shochin, informed Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russian companies are ready to finance the purchase of electronic systems and heavier weapons in order to protect their infrastructure from drone attacks.
