The Russian Duma on Friday approved a controversial new law which will allow the secret service (FSB) to take action against citizens it suspects of wrongdoing, but against whom they have no evidence, the news agency Interfax reported.
The law, proposed by President Dmitry Medevdev, passed with 354 votes, mostly from the ruling United Russia party, DPA reported.
It will allow the FSB to invite citizens of whom they are suspicious to "precautionary talks" to prevent the possibility of a later criminal act "against the country's security."
Officially the law is supposed to aid the fight against terror and extremist tendencies.
But lawyers, civil rights activists and members of the opposition have strongly criticized the bill, saying the country's leaders are trying to return to an authoritarian, Soviet-style, Big Brother state.
In an open letter to the Russian Federation Council published Friday, critics said the law would be a blow to personal rights and represented a return to the absolute power of the secret services and control of peaceful citizens.
The council must approve the law before it can be sent to President Dmitry Medvedev, whose signature turns it into law.
Signatories of the letter include the President of the Moscow Bar Association, Genry Reznik, the chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the head of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, Oleg Orlov, as well as writers and members of the opposition.
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