&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Putin's Russia in bizarre plan asks bank employees to shoot down Ukrainian drones themselves")
As Ukraine ups aerial attacks on Russia, Moscow, in a bizarre order, has asked banks and their employees to shoot down Ukrainian drones themselves. According to the TASS news agency, the bill allows trained bank employees to intercept and take down unmanned aerial vehicles. Additionally, the draft legislation, which has already cleared its third and final reading, mandates banks to install electronic jamming systems. The draft, initially proposed last August and later broadened, still needs to be approved by the upper house, the Federation Council, and receive final assent from President Vladimir Putin before it can become law.
Who pays for the arms and ammunition?
The measure, as per reports, would permit selected banks to intercept unmanned Ukrainian drones. For now, select staff at Russia's central bank, the country's biggest bank, Sberbank, and the Russian Cash Collection Association would be allowed to undertake the action.
However, the banks would themselves have to fund and install the necessary equipment on their premises. This was confirmed by Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the financial committee in Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, as reported by the RBC News outlet.
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Russian authorities have increasingly called on businesses to help fund defensive measures as Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks continue to grow in both scale and sophistication. On Tuesday, Alexander Shokhin, head of Russia’s most influential business lobby, told President Vladimir Putin that companies are prepared to finance the purchase of heavier weapons and electronic systems to shield their infrastructure from drone strikes.
What triggered this?
This comes as Ukraine struck the central bank's office in Sevastopol in Crimea with a missile on Wednesday. According to local governor Mikhail Razvozhaev, the weapon used in the attack was a British-made Storm Shadow missile, which set the building on fire. This, as per Reuters, was the first attack on a major central bank office since the beginning of the war.
The legislation says its purpose is to protect Bank of Russia facilities, including those located in the four eastern Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed, even though it does not fully control those territories.
Since Russia launched its military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has been regularly striking Russian sites with drones, particularly aiming for energy infrastructure.
