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Kremlin refrains from comment on bill providing jail term for governors' illegal PR

The bill provides for prison terms of up to five years for illegal use of state funds to sponsor image-building campaigns by governors of Russian regions

Dmitry Peskov Yuri Mashkov/TASS

Dmitry Peskov

© Yuri Mashkov/TASS

MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. The Kremlin so far refrains from comments about a bill providing for a prison term of up to five years for governors using state funds to sponsor their image-building campaigns, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"As far as I understand, the bill has just appeared. We must look at it before saying anything about it," he told journalists.

Earlier on Monday, the four factions in the Russian State Duma lower parliament house submitted to the Russian government and the Supreme Court a bill that provided for prison terms of up to five years for illegal use of state funds to sponsor image-building campaigns by governors of Russian regions. "State officials in Russian constituent regions cannot make direct or indirect use of budget funds to inform about the activities of the region’s state power bodies, with the exception of cases directly fixed in federal laws," the document says. In case of approval the law will come into force from December 1, 2015.

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