The lower house of the Russian parliament on Wednesday adopted amendments to the Official Secrets Act enlarging the list of information that constitutes a state secret.
The State Duma passed in the first reading a bill that classifies information related to anti-terrorism activity as officially secret, including measures to protect vital infrastructure and potentially dangerous installations.
It also lists information related to the means, methods, sources, plans and results of anti-terrorism activity, as well as the monitoring of organizations and individuals involved in terrorist activity.
In its advisory opinion, however, the State Duma Legal Department noted that some of the bill's definitions need clarification - for example, the concept of "protection of critical installations" and "potentially dangerous elements of infrastructure."
As concerns the means, methods, sources, plans and results of anti-terrorism activity, such information is, as a general rule, the result of intelligence or counterintelligence activity and therefore already constitutes an official secret, the department said.
MOSCOW, September 22 (RIA Novosti)
