MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that enables holding of elections, following consultations between the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Defense Ministry and Federal Security Service (FSB), on any territory where martial law has been declared, according to the text of the document, which was made public on Monday.

Previously, Russian legislation did not allow for holding federal, regional or local elections or referendums in such areas. The new rules stipulate, however, that this restriction does not apply to those cases where the decision to call an election or referendum is made by the CEC after consultations with the Defense Ministry and the FSB. In such a situation, elections and referendums may be held either on the entire territory under martial law or on just a portion of it.

The law also specifies measures to be applied in a territory under martial law. In particular, this concerns the grounds for detaining citizens. Earlier, the law "On Martial Law" stipulated that citizens could be detained for up to 30 days on the grounds established by federal legislation. The new law contains a provision on administrative detention in a separate sub-paragraph, which reads that detention is possible "if bans and restrictions established by presidential decree are violated on the territory under martial law."

The list of measures is also supplemented by a provision for the "forcible, controlled transfer of citizens from a territory where martial law has been declared to territories where martial law is not in effect."