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Kremlin says anti-fake news bill not an attempt at censorship

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that strict regulation of the fake news sphere "undoubtedly has to be done in our country"

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday he disagreed with the opinion that Russia’s draft legislation on blocking untrue and distorting facts on the Internet was allegedly an attempt to impose censorship in the country.

The Russian presidential spokesman suggested waiting for President Vladimir Putin’s decision on signing this document.

"No doubt, one can hardly agree with the opinion that this is some sort of censorship," Peskov told journalists.

As the Kremlin spokesman said, "this sphere - the sphere of fake news - insults and so on, is under strict regulation in many countries of the world, even in European states."

"This undoubtedly has to be done in our country," Putin’s spokesman stressed.

In Peskov’s opinion, "some apprehension may undoubtedly exist as to the legal application of this law once it makes its transformation from being a bill." "However, on numerous occasions we faced situations when such fears turned out to be groundless," he noted.

As in other cases, experts took part in the drafting of this bill, which underwent approvals, the spokesman said.

"Let us wait until it [the bill] is submitted to the Kremlin and by that time, the president will announce his position," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman declined to furnish any predictions on whether Putin would sign the draft law and only stressed that "work on the draft law has been going on for a long time and the bill is quite a well thought-out document.".