Articles 70 & 72

of the 1960 Russian SFSR Criminal Code

(For equivalent laws in Criminal Codes of other Soviet republics, see below)

ARTICLE 70 : ANTI-SOVIET AGITATION AND PROPAGANDA

Part 1

“Agitation or propaganda (main section) carried on for the purpose of subverting or weakening the Soviet regime or of committing particular especially dangerous crimes against the state, or the [oral] spreading for the same purpose of slanderous fabrications which defame the Soviet political and social system, or the circulation or preparation or keeping, for the same purpose, of literature of such content,

“- shall be punished by deprivation of freedom for a term from six months up to seven years (with or without additional exile for a term of 2 to 5 years), or by exile for a term of 2 to 5 years.”

Part 2

“The same actions committed by a person previously convicted for an especially serious State crime, or during wartime,

“- shall be punished by deprivation of freedom for a term of three to ten years.”

Often paired in prosecution with ARTICLE 72

e.g. CCE 13.3

“Organisational activity directed towards the committing of especially dangerous State crimes, and equally membership of an anti-Soviet organisation”[¹]

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Classified with espionage, treason and contraband as “especially serious State crimes” and investigated by the KGB. Those convicted under these articles served their sentence in special camps, first in Dubrovlag (Mordovia), later the Perm camps as well.

Equivalent laws in Criminal Codes of other Soviet republics

Armenian SSR – Articles 65-1 and 67 (CCE 16.4)
Georgian SSR
Latvian SSR – Articles 65 and 67 (CCE 20.1 [2])
Lithuanian SSR – Article 68 (CCE 47.5)
Estonian SSR
Moldavian SSR – Article 67 and 69 (CCE 20.1 [3])
Ukrainian SSR – Article 62 (CCE 49.3)
Belorussian SSR
Tajikistan SSR – Articles 67 and 69 (CCE 25.1)
Uzbek SSR

♦

In 1984, the wording of Article 70 pt. 2 would be amended in a way that recalls the “foreign agent” law introduced in 2012 by Vladimir Putin:

“The same actions committed using funds or other material assistance received from foreign organisations or individuals, acting in the interests of those organisations, or by a person previously convicted for an especially serious State crime or during wartime —

“- shall be punished by deprivation of freedom for a term of three to ten years.”

(Source: USSR News Update, 15 February 1984, item 3-4)