Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Edict on Responsibility for Disclosure of State Secrets and for Loss of Documents Containing State Secrets. June 9, 1947
Original Source: Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR, No. 20 (1947).
For the purpose of establishing uniformity in legislation and of strengthening responsibility for disclosure of information constituting state secrets, a list of which information was established by the Council of Ministers of the USSR in its decree of June 8 of this year, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decrees:
1. Disclosure of information comprising a state secret, committed by a person to whom such information was entrusted or who was able to receive such information by virtue of his position of service, in so far as such act cannot be characterized as treason or espionage, shall be punished by confinement in a corrective-labor camp from eight to twelve years.
2. Disclosure by a serviceman of information of a military character comprising a state secret, in so far as such act cannot be characterized as treason or espionage, shall be punished by confinement in a corrective-labor camp from ten to twenty years.
3. Disclosure by a private person of information comprising a state secret, in so far as such act cannot be characterized as treason or espionage, shall be punished by confinement in a corrective-labor camp from five to ten years.
4. Loss by an official of any materials, document, or publication containing information comprising a state secret, if such act does not by its nature entail a heavier punishment according to law, shall be punished by confinement in a corrective-labor camp from four to six years.
If such crime entails serious consequences, it shall be punished by confinement in a corrective-labor camp from six to ten years.
5. Loss by a serviceman of a document containing information comprising a state secret, if such act does not by its-nature entail a heavier punishment according to law, shall be punished by confinement in a corrective-labor camp from five to eight years.
If such crime entails serious consequences, it shall be punished by confinement in a corrective-labor camp from eight to twelve years.
6. The exhibition or transfer outside the country of any invention, discovery, or technical improvement, comprising a state secret, which was made within the boundaries of the USSR, or which was made outside the country by a citizen of the USSR under the command of the state, if such crime cannot be characterized as treason or espionage, shall be punished by confinement in a corrective-labor camp from ten to fifteen years.
7. Cases of crimes covered by this Edict shall be tried by Military Tribunals.
8. In connection with the issuance of the present edict, the following laws shall be considered to have lost their validity:
(a) The Edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 15 November 1943 “On Responsibility for Disclosure of State Secrets and for the Loss of Documents Containing State Secrets”;
(b) Paragraph “a” of Article 25 of the “Statute on Military Crimes.”
It shall be proposed to the Supreme Soviets of the Constituent Republics in conformity with the present edict to introduce the necessary changes into the legislation of the constituent republics.
Source: The American Review on the Soviet Union, Vol. III, Nos. 3-4 (Oct. 1947), pp. 86-87.