MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The Russian State Duma (lower house) has unanimously adopted a bill on introducing criminal liability for the dissemination of fakes about the country’s Armed Forces in the second and third readings on Friday.
Dissemination of knowingly false information about Russia’s Armed Forces under the guise of credible reports provides for a fine ranging from 700,000 to 1.5 mln rubles (from about $6,600 to $14,200) or up to three years behind bars.
Those spreading fakes while using their official position and creating false evidence are going to receive from five to ten years of imprisonment. If knowingly false information entails grave consequences, the punishment will range from 10 to 15 years in prison.
On Friday, the State Duma also adopted a bill introducing administrative liability for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces in the second and third readings. Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin noted that these laws were required "for citizens to receive objective information" to protect citizens and the country from lies, which flow primarily through those information resources that are influenced from abroad.
The senior lawmaker emphasized that these two bills would be "immediately sent to the Federation Council." "Today, the Federation Council will hold a meeting, and after receiving the Council’s approval, it will arrive at the president’s desk. And this means that literally tomorrow, these direct measures will allow those who lied and made statements discrediting our armed forces to be punished, and very harshly. I would like everyone to understand that we are doing this to protect our soldiers, officers, to preserve the truth," Volodin noted.