SOCHI, September 17. /TASS/. The bill introducing a new qualifying feature into several articles of the Criminal Code - the use of deepfake technologies, may be adopted in the first reading in the summer of 2025, Chairman of the Federation Council Commission on Information Policy and Media Relations Alexey Pushkov told reporters.

"I think it will take more time, precisely because the law is unprecedented. We have never had a punishment for falsifying video footage and voices. This is a new phenomenon associated with the emergence of artificial intelligence. It will take a lot of work. I hope that by the end of the legislative year, that is, by next summer, it will be adopted at least in the first reading, after which there will be some further revision. I think that this work will take about six months to a year," he said.

According to the bill, defamation committed using the image or voice (including fake or artificially created) of the victim, as well as using the victim's biometric data, will be punished by a fine of up to 1.5 mln rubles ($16,393) or imprisonment for up to two years. Fraud using such technologies may be punished by a fine of up to 400,000 rubles ($4,372) or imprisonment for up to six years.