ST 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
1. Disclosure of information constituting a state secret by a person to whom it was entrusted or became known through service, work, study or in other cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation, if this information has become available to other persons, in the absence of signs of crimes provided for in Articles 275 and 276 of this Code is punishable by arrest for a term of four to six months or imprisonment for a term of up to four years with or without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years.
2. The same act, which through negligence entailed grave consequences, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of three to seven years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years.
Art. 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: composition, punishment
For the disclosure of information considered a state secret by a subject to whom it became known or was entrusted as part of work/service or study and in other cases established by law, the following shall be imposed:
- Arrest for 4-6 months.
- Imprisonment up to four years. In addition, the offender may be prohibited from holding certain positions or carrying out activities established by the court for up to 3 years.
Punishment under Part 1 of Art. 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is assigned if other citizens have access to the specified information, and the behavior of the perpetrator does not show signs of acts provided for by norms 274, 276 of the Code.
If the act entails grave consequences, the sanction is increased. The perpetrator in this case, according to part 2 of Art. 283 of the Criminal Code, faces 3-7 years in prison. In addition, he may be subject to the prohibition specified above for the same period.
Part two
It defines the qualifying elements of the act. They admit the same crime as specified in Part 1 of Art. 283, but entailed grave consequences due to negligence. They recognize:
- Transfer of information to foreign intelligence services.
- Disruption of significant events.
- Suspension of promising scientific and technical research, and so on.
In this case, the fault can only be careless. This is indicated in the norm under consideration itself.
Art. 283 of the Criminal Code: commentary on the subject and object
The object of encroachment is public relations related to the inclusion of information in the category of state secrets, their declassification/classification, as well as protection in order to ensure the security of the country.
The subject of the act under Art. 283 of the Criminal Code, accordingly, is a state secret.
The disposition of the article directly states the action for which liability arises—disclosure of information. It involves making public information that is a secret protected by law, and therefore it becomes known to outsiders.
Forms of action
According to Art. 283 of the Criminal Code punishes persons who transferred materials or items classified as state secrets, orally or in writing. In the first case, information can be disclosed during a public conversation or a private conversation, in the second - through the media, in a letter, etc.
In judicial practice under Art. 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation also recognizes the demonstration of objects, drawings, products, materials, and diagrams as an unlawful act. Responsibility under the analyzed article also occurs in case of violation of the rules for storing and distributing materials containing or related to state secrets.
The difference between disclosing state secrets and treason
Article 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for liability for disclosing state secrets, applies only if there are no signs of treason or espionage in the act. In general, disclosure has common features with high treason in terms of issuing information that constitutes a state secret.
Meanwhile, these crimes have a number of fundamental differences. In case of treason, information is transferred to representatives of another country or its agents, while in case of disclosure - to other persons (these may be acquaintances and relatives of the person who committed the crime). High treason has the form of espionage, whereas when disclosed, information is transferred to representatives of the same country.
They also differ in the subjects of the crime. If in case of treason the subject is general, then in case of disclosure it is special. That is, only a person who possesses this information due to the nature of his activity can disclose state secrets.
A person who, due to the nature of his activity, did not have access to state secrets cannot be held accountable under Art. 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If a citizen collected relevant information intentionally, then his actions can be qualified as espionage or high treason (if this data subsequently became the property of a foreign state) or under Art. 285 “Abuse of official powers” or under Art. 272 “Illegal access to computer information.”
Also , persons who did not meet the criteria of a subject of a crime under Art. 283, may act as accomplices .
In case of treason, a person realizes that the information being transmitted is detrimental to the security of the country, i.e. the criminal deliberately transmits information to cause harm to the state. Whereas when disclosing state secrets, the criminal may not be aware of the consequences of his actions, and he has no desire to cause damage to state interests.
Explanations from lawyers
Considering Art. 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with comments, it can be noted that experts pay special attention to the objective side of the act. Thus, lawyers point out that a crime may involve the commission of both active and passive actions. Examples of the former are discussed above.
Passive actions in the context of the norm include failure to take appropriate measures to maintain the confidentiality of information. For example, this could be leaving documents in a place where other people can find them.
Nuances
The crime established in part 1 of Art. 283 of the Criminal Code, is considered completed at the moment when the information becomes available to third parties who perceive and understand its basic meaning. To qualify an act, a complete understanding of the content of the information is not required.
In practice, it is possible to separate the stages of assault into preparation and attempt. In the first case, we are talking about making an unrecorded extract from a confidential document, making a photocopy, etc. In the second case, it is assumed that the information made public for some reason was not perceived by outsiders.
Intent
It can be indirect and direct. In the latter case, the perpetrator understands the danger of his behavior, assumes that as a result of his illegal actions, confidential information will become known to outsiders, and desires such consequences to occur. Direct intent, for example, occurs when information is published in the media.
With indirect intent, the perpetrator also understands the danger of the actions, assumes that the information will become available to other persons and consciously allows these consequences, that is, does not take measures to maintain the confidentiality of the information. For example, a citizen shares information in a conversation in a public place.
Commentary to Art. 283 Criminal Code
1. The subject of the crime is information constituting a state secret. For the concept of this information, see the commentary to Art. 275 of the Criminal Code.
2. The objective side of the crime is expressed in actions or inaction. Actions to disclose relevant information consist of illegally communicating it, transferring it to a person(s) who did not know it, in any form (in conversation, correspondence, when demonstrating documents containing relevant information, etc.). Inaction occurs when documents or objects containing relevant information are left unattended.
3. The crime is recognized as completed from the moment the specified information is perceived by third parties who do not have access to this information (Part 1). Perception means familiarization and memorization of specified information or its recording in another way. According to Part 2, the occurrence of grave consequences due to negligence is required (Part 2). The concept of grave consequences is evaluative. In this case, it is necessary to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the fact of disclosure of state secrets and the resulting consequences, which is complicated when a crime is committed in the form of inaction. It is important to establish that these actions (inactions) do not contain signs of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code) or espionage (Article 276 of the Criminal Code).
4. The subjective side (part 1) is characterized by both intent and negligence. The onset of grave consequences (under Part 2) occurs due to negligence. When committing a crime with direct intent, it must be distinguished from high treason (Article 275) and espionage (Article 276) according to the direction of intent (in these articles there is a goal to damage the security of the Russian Federation), as well as according to the subject.
5. Special subject: a person who has reached the age of 16, to whom information constituting a state secret was entrusted or became known through service, work, study or in other cases provided for by law.
Motive
Disclosure of state secrets occurs for various reasons. Most often, the motive of the culprit is the desire to give weight and importance to his person, to win someone’s favor. In some cases, the reason for committing a crime can be very banal - assistance in writing a scientific work, for example.
Meanwhile, neither motive nor goal affect qualifications.
Subjective part
Only a certain category of persons can be held accountable under Article 283. First of all, the subject of the crime must have access to state secrets.
In this case, the information must be entrusted to him due to his professional duties or must be known to him in connection with his studies or work activities. Thus, the subject of a crime may be a worker involved in the production of special equipment, an employee involved in the reproduction of documentation, and so on.
Difference from treason
Disclosure of classified information is carried out exclusively with indirect or direct intent. In the latter case, the question reasonably arises: how does disclosure differ from high treason, expressed in espionage? First of all, it is necessary to note the specificity of the content of intent and the nature of the act itself. By committing treason, the subject understands that he is transferring secret data to a representative of a foreign state. At the same time, he consciously wants to do this with the aim of carrying out hostile activities to harm Russia. When disclosing classified information, the culprit understands that he is providing it to outsiders, not representatives of another country.
State secret: definition
State secrets are information protected by the state in the field of military, economic, counterintelligence, operational investigative, foreign policy, intelligence activities, the dissemination of which could cause harm to the country.
The use of information considered a state secret is regulated by the provisions of the Constitution and the Federal Law “On State Secrets” and “On State Security”. Their distribution is subject to restrictions from the moment of their creation (development) or in advance. To streamline the circulation of such data, the state forms appropriate regulations.
Normative base
The procedure according to which the safety of information that relates to state secrets is ensured is regulated by Federal Law No. 5485-1, the rules for classifying data to different degrees of secrecy, as well as the list of information considered protected by law. In addition, there is a system of by-laws in the form of regulations, instructions, memos, etc. In this regard, during the investigation of the facts, it is necessary to accurately establish the nature of the information made public. In addition, the specific requirement that was not followed should be identified. The degree of secrecy of data is established by comparing it with the regulations in force in the country. If necessary, an examination can be carried out.
Exceptions
The legislation establishes a ban on classifying as state secrets information about:
- Disasters and emergency situations that pose a threat to the safety and health of the population, natural disasters, their forecasts and consequences.
- Compensations, social guarantees, privileges provided to organizations, individuals, employees, institutions.
- Violation of interests, freedoms and rights of man and citizen.
- The size of the gold reserves and foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation.
- The state of health of persons holding senior government positions.
- Violations of the law by government structures and their employees.
Secrecy
The legislation establishes several degrees of secrecy. Each of them corresponds to the severity of the damage that may arise from the disclosure of information.
The following degrees are established:
- "of special importance";
- "top secret";
- "secret".
The corresponding documents are marked with marks indicating the degree. Their use for classifying information that is not classified as a state secret is not permitted.
Forms of the act
Disclosure of state secrets can be carried out in various ways. In practice, the most common forms are:
- Written. For example, this could be printing in the media, sending letters, and so on.
- Oral. Disclosure of state secrets can be carried out during a private conversation or during a public speech.
- In the process of demonstrating objects, drawings, diagrams that include information protected by law.
Disclosure of state secrets can be carried out in the event of loss of documents containing secret data, as well as in violation of the method of their use.
Declassification of data
The grounds for removing the secrecy stamps are:
- Acceptance of international obligations by Russia for the open exchange of information that constitutes a state secret in the country.
- A change in circumstances due to which maintaining confidentiality of information becomes impractical.
The period for which information can be classified cannot exceed 30 years. However, in exceptional cases this period may be extended. Such a decision should be made after a meeting of the interdepartmental commission for the protection of state secrets.
