MOSCOW, April 8 - RAPSI. President Vladimir Putin has signed a law listing the situations in which convicts sentenced to custodial restraint can leave their house or their city. The document has been posted on the government's legal information website.

Termed "extraordinary personal circumstances," the events will include natural disasters, a close relative's death or serious illness, and the need to take university entrance exams.

Convicts will be permitted to change their places of residence if their marital status changes, they or their family receive new housing, or in the event of a disaster.

Custodial restraint is a form of punishment introduced in Russia in December 2009. As part of the punishment, a convict faces various restrictions, such as a ban on leaving home at certain hours, on visiting specific places, on leaving their city, on attending mass events, and on moving to a new residence without the permission of a supervisory body.

Until the new law was signed, the legislation did not stipulate any reasons for which the penitentiary inspection could grant or withhold from the convict permission to move or to change their job or to enroll in a different school.