Russia introduces liability for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces

The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation has unanimously passed amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the third reading, increasing liability for spreading false information about the actions of the Russian Armed Forces and public calls for imposing sanctions against Russia.
“The bill will be sent to the Federation Council immediately. A meeting will be held today. Once approved by the Federation Council, the bill will be presented to the President of the Russian Federation. This means, possibly, that already tomorrow its direct-action norms will punish , and very severely, those who lied and made statements discrediting our Armed Forces,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
“I would like everyone to understand, and society to understand, that we are doing this in order to protect our soldiers, officers, in order to protect the truth,” stressed Vyacheslav Volodin. This is reported by the website of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
Under the amendments, in order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens and maintain international peace and security, public dissemination of deliberately false information under the guise of reliable reports containing data on the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will be punished by a fine of 700,000 to 1.5 million rubles. Imprisonment for up to three years is also possible.
If the violation of the law was committed through abuse of official position, on the grounds of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity or on the grounds of hatred or enmity towards any social group, it can be punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The above-mentioned acts, if they entailed grave consequences, would be punishable by deprivation of liberty for 10 to 15 years.
Those who were subjected to administrative penalties for publicly discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will face a fine of 100,000 to 300,000 rubles, or imprisonment for up to three years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for the same period.
Also, according to the law, those who call for imposing sanctions against Russia will face a fine of up to 500,000 rubles or imprisonment for up to three years with a fine of up to 200,000 rubles.
The norms will come into force from the moment of their official publication.
In addition, deputies passed in the third reading the corresponding amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences.
According to these amendments, liability for public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, maintaining international peace and security, as well as public calls to prevent the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, would be: from 30,000 to 50,000 rubles for citizens, from 100,000 to 200,000 rubles for officials, from 300,000 to 500,000 rubles for legal entities.
The maximum fine for similar actions, if accompanied by appeals to hold unauthorized public events, will equal up to 100,000 rubles for citizens and 1 million rubles for legal entities.
Fines for calling for the imposition of sanctions against Russia will be up to 50,000 rubles for citizens and up to half a million rubles for legal entities.