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Duma postpones second reading of bill on penalties for compliance with sanctions in Russia

Russia’s State Duma postponed the second reading of the bill in order to hold consultations with businesses

MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Russia’s State Duma on Thursday postponed the second, main reading of the bill on criminal punishment for compliance with anti-Russian restrictive measures in Russian territory in order to hold consultations with businesses, thus supporting a proposal made by the lower house speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin.

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State Duma approves criminal liability for aiding West’s anti-Russia sanctions

As the State Duma’s agenda was discussed on Thursday, Volodin said that the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) and some banking organizations had asked him to hold more consultations on the bill.

"It is worth hearing the opinion of committees and other organizations concerned and to hold consultations with the business community and civil society institutions, the way we did in relation to the bill on measures of response to unfriendly actions by the United States and other countries," Volodin said.

The bill in question was proposed on May 14 by the speakers of the State Duma and Federation Council, Vyacheslav Volodin and Valentina Matviyenko, and the leaders of parliamentary factions. The maximum penalty for consent to act in compliance with western sanctions in Russian territory is four years in prison.

The RUIE board bureau on Wednesday said the bill on criminal penalty for participation in anti-Russian sanctions in Russian territory would be impermissible, for it was fraught with the risk of a worsening of the business climate in Russia.

Earlier, the head of the VTB bank, Andrei Kostin, said at a meeting of the United Russia faction in the State Duma the bill on criminal punishment for compliance with anti-Russian sanctions could not be adopted by any means in its current form.

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Russia's domestic policy

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