MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. There is no need to liberalize laws related to the transport, storage and distribution of drugs, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual televised Q&A session on Thursday.

"Indeed, we see many indictments in drug cases. Moreover, about 26% of those serving out prison sentences in the country were convicted under drug laws," he noted. "Do we need to ease rules in this area? In my view, we don’t, because we are dealing with a great threat to our country and nation. If someone illegally transports, stores and distributes even the smallest amounts of drugs, they should be held accountable and there needs to be no liberalization," the Russian president added.

The Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) earlier suggested amending Article 228 of the country’s Criminal Code, mitigating punishment for the purchase and possession of large amounts of drugs without intention to resell them so that drug addicts could escape getting the same sentence as drug dealers.