Draft bill to outlaw maps that ‘dispute Russia’s territorial integrity’ passed in first reading

The State Duma has passed in first reading a draft of the amendments to the law on “Countering Extremist Activity.”

The projected amendments specify that “cartographic and other documents and images meant for dissemination and public demonstration and disputing Russia’s territorial integrity” will be classified as extremist materials. Their dissemination will be considered a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 15 days under arrest for individuals, and by fines of up to a million rubles (or about $14,000) for corporations.

An explanatory note attached to the bill laments the increasing frequency of

instances of dissemination of print and cartographic products that visually represent various parts of the Russian territory (e.g., Crimea, the southern Kuril Islands, etc.) as parts that belong to other countries.

State Duma deputies think that these “informational acts” are, in fact,

a covert form of propaganda, apparently conducted from abroad, with an aim of fostering distorted ideas about Russia’s state borders, justifying the territorial claims of states neighboring our country, and undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.

The Russian news outlet Agentstvo points out that even the Kremlin itself is guilty of this form of “covert propaganda,” since the map of Russia published on its official website still doesn’t include the Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia last September.