The Russian Parliament today began considering a bill that would give the state the power to confiscate the property of people accused of defaming the Russian military or publicly calling for actions that undermine state security.

The move has drawn comparisons to the witch hunts of the 1930s led by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s “enemy of the state” rhetoric and could have an impact on thousands of Russians who have spoken out against Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.

Criticism of the “special military operation”, as Moscow calls the war in Ukraine, has been a crime in Russia since it began almost two years ago, but the new bill aims to make the penalties even tougher.

It would, for example, allow the state to confiscate the property of Russians who have left the country and criticized the war but continue to rely on income from renting out their homes or apartments in Russia.

The speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, Vychislav Volodin, a close ally of Putin, called the law a “scum law”.

“All those who try to destroy Russia, betray her, must be punished accordingly and return the damage to the country in the form of their propertyhe said over the weekend announcing the bill’s filing.