Russia’s lower house passes bill on fines for disseminating maps ‘disputing Russia’s territorial integrity’ in first reading

The Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) has adopted the bill that will introduce fines for disseminating maps that “dispute Russia’s territorial integrity” in its first reading.

The bill amends the law on countering extremism. Maps as well as other documents and images that “dispute Russia’s territorial integrity” will be classified as extremist.

Russians will face a fine of between 1,000 and 3,000 rubles (€13.5-40) or up to 15 days of arrest, officials will be fines 2,000-5,000 rubles (€27-67), legal entities will have to pay between 100,000 and 1 million rubles (€1,310-13,100).

“We have been lately seeing maps and other images being actively disseminated that dispute that Crimea, the Kuril Islands, and other territories are a part of Russia. It is especially dangerous when these materials are focused on children, as happened with children’s wallpaper that was sold in a popular retail chain, where Crimea was labelled as a part of Ukraine.”

“It is clear that this is a part of a hybrid war waged by the West against Russia. The dissemination of such materials that violate the Russian law should be stopped,” member of parliament Vasily Piskarev said.

The Russian State Duma, moreover, adopted a bill in its third and final reading that cements the status of the St. George ribbon as one of the symbols of military glory, TASS reports.

The bill envisages administrative or criminal punishment for publicly desecrating the St. George ribbon. The first violation will entail a fine, the second one will land the perpetrator in prison for 5 years.

In addition, the lower house has also passed a bill in its final reading about the administrative liability for “pernicious” violations of the Russian law on “foreign agents”.