Russian scientist Denis Rebrikov shocked the ever-dismayed world of bioethicists when he made public his intent to create HIV-resistant CRISPR babies like the twin girls that were born last year in China.

“I think I’m crazy enough to do it!” Rebrikov had said in an interview – after considering the possibility that he might have to go ahead with his work, even if Russian authorities didn’t give him the green light, or took too long to do so.

A month later in July this year, Rebrikov had put his plan for HIV-resistant CRISPR babies on hold, and was instead focusing on creating CRISPR babies who could not get heritable deafness from their deaf parents. An ambition that the ever-authoritative bioethicists declared was genocide against deaf people.

But Rebrikov did not seem bothered about such outlandish bioethical objections, as he was preoccupied with getting government approval. And as was the case with his first CRISPR baby creation endeavor, he said he was not willing to wait for years so as to get permission, stating:

“I don’t want to wait years until I get permission from my government to make these babies. I’ll publish my results as soon as possible, so we can have a discussion!”

But as of last week, it looks like Rebrikov might not have to consider government bureaucracy as an obstacle that he has to go full renegade-scientist on. Or at the very least, the government will give a more nuanced, expert consideration of his work. This is because on September 6, Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, placed a $134,500 contract on the Russian government’s website, looking for expert analysis on the topic of ‘Normative legal regulation of the use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies.’

According to the contract, one of these ‘Assisted Reproductive Technologies’ is genome editing. The document notes that while such technologies have many advantages, they also have “problematic aspects in the social, legal, ethical and religious spheres.” It then notes how such technologies are regulated in other countries while mentioning Russia’s own local regulations, namely:

The Federal Law of November 21, 2011 No. 323-ФЗ “On the Basics of Protecting the Health of Citizens in the Russian Federation” (Chapter 6, Article 55);

The Family Code of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 1995 No. 223-ФЗ – a procedure has been established for recording the parents of a child who was born thanks to Assisted Reproductive Technology;

The Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated 30.08.2012 No. 107n “On the Procedure for Using Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Contraindications and Restrictions on Their Use”;

The Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia of October 30, 2012 No. 556n “On the approval of the standard of medical care for infertility using assisted reproductive technologies.”

After listing these local regulations, the document does what is perhaps a first in any country as far as regulation pertaining to genome editing goes: It admits that not all “nuances” are represented, and as such, Assisted Reproductive Technologies laws must be upgraded so as to be less ambiguous while allowing for the most efficient use of such technologies – while helping to “avoid conflict situations and adverse consequences.”

The contract has more detailed explanations of what the contractual study and research should cover, from basic concepts like economic and demographical impacts, to the analysis of emerging, and largely experimental technologies like surrogate motherhood, cloning, and cryogenic resurrection. Seemingly open to these ideas – which are by most standards fringe – and even welcoming them as they will be the breakthrough technologies of the future, the document states that the research must “propose the basic provisions of the concept of development of the use of assisted reproductive technologies as a breakthrough technology of the new century and as the basis for the formation of new ideas about professional activity in the current millennium.”

The government contract, which is to be completed by November 30th of this year, doesn’t seem to be cracking down on gene editing like other current legislative knee-jerk reactions in the United States or the put-on-a-moralistic-charade-while-doing-the-exact-opposite showmanship of China. It really looks like Russian lawmakers want to be prepared for what is inevitable, and even welcome this impending Genetic Revolution as a basis for creating a new society, saying that the purpose of the research is to understand and study “the possibilities of conflict-free development of a new generation of assisted reproductive technologies in order to create a ‘new type of society’ based on more advanced legislation.”

Although Russian society is largely conservative, the country also has a rapidly declining population and as such, government policy has been very open as far as reproductive technologies go. This partly explains Russia’s nuanced look at such technologies.

Another surprise to Russia is that even though the Orthodox Church wields a lot of power, there is a lot of mainstream acceptance of transhumanism, including active, self-identifying transhumanist movements – particularly in St. Petersburg. These contradictions are also reflected on Russia’s leadership. While the Putin administration has expressed alarm over a future of where enhanced supersoldiers are the norm, it has also not shied away from so called “genetic passports” for its military personnel. Genetic passports are supposed to be genetic markers that will help allocate military roles based on genetic traits. President Putin passed a decree this year in March, mandating that all Russians should be issued with genetic passports before 2025.