Russia approves plan to arm bank employees against Ukrainian drones

MOSCOW: Russian lawmakers have passed a bill allowing trained bank employees to shoot down Ukrainian drones amid a rise in aerial attacks on Russian territory, TASS news agency reported. The draft legislation, which also mandates banks to install electronic jamming systems, cleared its third and final reading in the lower house of the State Duma on Tuesday.

The measure will permit selected bank staff to intercept unmanned aerial vehicles, while banks would be required to fund and install the necessary equipment on their premises. The bill comes amid the ongoing war following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Kyiv increasingly carrying out drone strikes targeting Russian infrastructure, including energy facilities around Moscow, Al Jazeera reported.

The legislation states it is aimed at protecting Bank of Russia facilities, including those in the four eastern Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed, despite not exercising full control over them. Under the proposal, financial institutions, including state-backed banks such as Sberbank, would be responsible for deploying anti-drone systems, while selected employees would be trained to use jamming and interception measures.

The draft, first introduced last August and later expanded, still requires approval from the upper house Federation Council and final assent from President Vladimir Putin before it becomes law, Al Jazeera reported.

Russian authorities have increasingly urged businesses to support defensive measures as Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks grow in scale and sophistication. However, the proposal has raised questions over implementation, particularly regarding training requirements and operational readiness of bank staff in handling aerial threats.

Speaking to Russian media outlet RBK, Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, said jamming systems would be used to disrupt drone targeting, while interception measures would also be deployed to protect key facilities. (ANI)