The law, passed by the Russian Lower House this week, will allow employees at the Russian Central Bank to be equipped with weapons and operate systems used to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) without the participation of specialized forces.
Russia's largest bank Sberbank, the Russian Cash Collection Association - the largest transportation unit of cash and assets in Russia - and the Special Postal Service - the unit handling the delivery of state secret and top secret letters, are among other organizations allowed to deploy private operations to defend drones.
According to the law passed at the Russian State Duma, employees of these organizations will be "arranged the right to intercept the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles, ships as well as underwater and surface equipment, unmanned vehicles as well as other autonomous unmanned systems".
This right can be used to repel an attack on protected facilities or to repel the threat of an attack targeting personnel or others present at the facilities of these organizations.
UAV attacks can be prevented by jamming or converting remote control signals of UAVs that interfere with the control panel, damaging or destroying UAVs.
Chairman of the Financial Markets Committee of the State Duma Anatoly Aksakov - one of the drafters of the new law - said that the anti-UAV defense system will be placed near key facilities and staff will be equipped with weapons.
He also added that organizations will pay for drone defense systems themselves. "If it is a central bank, then the central bank will pay; if it is Sberbank, then Sberbank will pay" - Mr. Aksakov said.
On May 26, Russia said it had warned US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about evacuating US diplomats and citizens from Kiev because Moscow is planning to launch new attacks on the capital of Ukraine.
In a phone call on May 25, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov officially informed Washington that Moscow will conduct "systematic and consistent" attacks on Ukrainian military facilities, focusing on drone design, production and programming facilities as well as Kiev's "decision-making centers".
