Russia allows central bank, top bank Sberbank to directly down drones

May 27 (Reuters) – Russia has passed a law allowing its central bank and other financial institutions to operate defence systems and arm staff to ward off drone attacks without special forces involvement, a document published by the lower house of parliament showed on Tuesday. 

Ukraine is regularly striking Russia with drones after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, with energy infrastructure frequently targeted as Kyiv aims to deprive Moscow of revenues to bring the war to its end. 

Drone defence systems would be located next to the central bank, the country’s biggest bank Sberbank, and the Russian Cash Collection Association. Staff at those institutions would be permitted to be armed. 

The institutions would handle the cost of drone defence themselves, Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the financial committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, was quoted as saying by the RBC news outlet. 

On Tuesday, Alexander Shokhin, head of Russia’s most powerful business lobby, told President Vladimir Putin companies are ready to finance the purchase of heavier weapons and electronic systems to defend their infrastructure from drone attacks. 

(Reporting by Reuters, Writing by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)