the illegal transfer of goods, valuables, or other articles across a country’s border, that is, transferring them in violation of customs legislation.
Under Soviet law a distinction is made between smuggling punishable under administrative law and under criminal law. In addition to the illegal transfer of goods across the USSR state border, administratively punishable smuggling is deemed to be the storage, transfer, or purchase of smuggled goods on USSR territory and the illegal export, import, shipping, or remittance abroad or from abroad of currency or currency valuables (Customs Code of the USSR, art. 100). Depending on the circumstances of the case, such smuggling is punishable by confiscation of the smuggled articles, as well as the means of transport or other means used in the smuggling; by collection of the approximate value of the smuggled goods in the event that confiscation is not feasible; or by a fine.
Criminal liability for smuggling is provided for under Article 15 of the Law on Criminal Responsibility for State Crimes of 1958, as well as by the criminal codes of Union republics (for example, the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, art. 78). Smuggling is defined as the illegal transfer of goods or other valuables across the USSR state border, committed by hiding the smuggled articles in special containers, or by fraudulent use of customs or other documents, or on a large scale, or by a group of persons organized for the purpose of smuggling, or by an official using his official position. Smuggling is also the illegal transfer of explosives, narcotics, virulent or poisonous substances, or arms and military equipment. The criminal punishment for smuggling is deprivation of freedom for a term of three to ten years with confiscation of property and with or without exile for a term of two to five years.