Extreme lawlessness

On Friday, the final day of the spring session, the State Duma, as expected, adopted a number of bills that are causing wide public outcry: on tightening penalties for extremism, on compulsory secondary education and on penalties for violating traffic rules. Now we have to study for 11 years, pay a fine of up to 2.5 thousand rubles for gross traffic violations, and almost anyone can be called an extremist.

Vladimir Ryzhkov, an independent deputy and leader of the Republican Party (which miraculously did not undergo re-registration), suggested that deputies should not accept amendments to the law on extremism - since the bill is unfinished and completely “raw”, the concept of “extremism” is interpreted very broadly in it. I must say that, in general, the law on extremism itself, without amendments, was enough for us - and so anyone can be imprisoned under it, but it didn’t seem enough to the deputies. The State Duma adopted amendments to the bill in the third and final reading. The main beauty of the amendments is that they do not so much toughen the punishment as legalize any actions of the special services - according to the new law, you can spy on, wiretap, and conduct surveillance on any person, and especially on those who have been at least somehow noticed in political or social activities.