Death Penalty
1. The death penalty as an exceptional measure of punishment may be established only for especially serious crimes involving the taking of life.
2. The death penalty is not imposed on women, or persons who committed crimes before reaching eighteen years of age, or men who have reached sixty-five years of age at the time the court issues its verdict.
2.1. The death penalty is not imposed on a person extradited by the Russian Federation to a foreign state for criminal prosecution in accordance with an international treaty of the Russian Federation or on the basis of reciprocity, if according to the legislation of the foreign state that has extradited the person, the death penalty is not provided for the crime committed by this person, or non-application of the death penalty is a condition for extradition, or the death penalty cannot be imposed on him for other reasons.
(paragraph 2.1 introduced by Federal Law No. 324-FZ dated December 17, 2009)
3. The death penalty in the form of a pardon may be replaced by life imprisonment or imprisonment for a term of twenty-five years
Source: "Criminal Code of the Russian Federation" dated 13.06.1996 No. 63-FZ (as amended on 29.11.2012)