MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The criminal responsibility for spreading knowingly false information about the Russian Armed Forces applies not only to Russians, but also to citizens of other countries, the head of the Duma Committee on Information Policy Alexander Khinshtein (United Russia) told reporters.
"The law applies to all citizens, not only Russian citizens, because we are talking about actions against Russia," he explained.
As the politician noted, foreign citizens spreading fakes from other countries are beyond Russian jurisdiction. At the same time, he recalled the statute of limitations within the framework of criminal liability. "For serious crimes they are up to 15 years," the deputy said.
The State Duma (lower house of parliament) at a meeting on Friday unanimously adopted in the second and third readings a bill introducing criminal liability for spreading knowingly false information about the Russian Armed Forces.
Article 207.3 "Public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" will appear in the Criminal Code. This article provides imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 1.5 million rubles. If by while committing a crime the official position was used or the actions were done for personal gain, the punishment is from 5 to 10 years of imprisonment or a fine up to 5 million rubles. If the fake information leads to grave consequences, the term of imprisonment will be from 10 to 15 years.
On Friday, the State Duma also passed in the second and third readings a bill introducing administrative responsibility for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.