MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law on criminal liability for false information about the Russian Armed Forces, according to the statement published on the Kremlin site.
The initiative was considered and passed by the State Duma and the Federation Council (the lower and upper houses of Russia’s parliament) earlier in the day.
The Russian Criminal Code is updated with Article 207.3 ‘Public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,’ which provides for imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 1.5 million rubles. Provided that the law is breached with the use of official position, for mercenary reasons, or on grounds of political, ideological, racial, ethnic or religious hatred or enmity, the offense will be punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years or a fine of up to 5 million rubles. Provided that the fake information entails grave consequences, the term of imprisonment will be from ten to 15 years.
Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said at the lower house’s session that the laws are needed to receive impartial information in order "to protect citizens and the country from the lies that, first of all, flow through those information resources that are influenced from abroad.".