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Putin to look into idea of amending drug-related legislation if proposed

Proposals for amending the legislation started pouring over journalist Golunov’s affair, who was charged with an attempt to sell narcotic drugs, but later all charges were lifted

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

BISHKEK, June 13. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will consider the idea of changing criminal responsibility for drug abuse-related crimes, should such a proposal be formulated and proposed by legislators, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Thursday.

"If there is such a proposal, if it is formulated, then it will be studied," he said. "It is impossible to consider abstract legislative initiatives. They must be properly formulated first."

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Asked about Russian Academy of Sciences member Andrei Vorobyov’s proposal for revising all drug trafficking cases Peskov said Putin had not seen the message yet.

Proposals for amending drug trafficking-related legislation started pouring in in the wake of journalist Ivan Golunov’s affair. Golunov was detained on June 6 and charged with an attempt to sell narcotic drugs. A court in Moscow put Golunov under house arrest, but on June 11 after comprehensive tests and examinations all charges against the journalist were lifted and he was set free. Golunov denied his guilt of an attempt to sell drugs from the outset. His lawyers claim that the drugs had been planted on him.

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