OREANDA-NEWS. The chairman of the Russian State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that he supported the bill submitted on Wednesday for first reading, which allows Russian citizens - those involved in the sanctions lists of the United States and other countries - to transfer litigations to Russian jurisdiction. “I support and I think that all his colleagues support him”, the speaker said, answering the relevant question of the Russian media. "This is the right measure, we must protect our country, protect its economy, protect our businessmen who have been wrongfully under sanctions", he stressed.

Volodin again called "sanctions and trade wars, sanctions in themselves are unacceptable". "The United States and a number of other countries are promoting their economy, their agenda, their decisions under the guise of sanctions, and we must do everything so that our economy and our citizens do not suffer from this", he said. "Therefore, the law is primarily aimed at protecting our entrepreneurs, our business leaders, business owners, so that they don't suffer from the unfriendly actions of other states".

The bill introduces "guarantees to ensure the rights and legitimate interests of certain categories of citizens of the Russian Federation and Russian legal entities in respect of which restrictive measures have been introduced", follows from the accompanying materials. Its essence, in particular, is about the cases of imposing sanctions that "impede the representation of interests in the courts of foreign states, international organizations or arbitration courts located outside the territory of the Russian Federation".

In case of violation of these conditions, citizens and companies of the Russian Federation who have fallen under sanctions will be able to “demand payment of a penalty equal to the size of the claims” presented to them by foreign courts.