The day before, Vladimir Putin did not have time to read the article by the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, in the magazine “Vlast,” said Dmitry Peskov. He did not answer the question whether Bastrykin’s statements are the position of the country’s leadership

Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters that during the working day the day before, Vladimir Putin, due to his busy schedule, did not have time to read the article by the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR), Alexander Bastrykin, in the magazine Vlast, which caused a great resonance .

“We did not show the publication. We had such a busy day,” Peskov said. At the same time, he made a reservation that he did not know whether Putin had time to read the article at night.

Peskov refused to answer RBC’s question whether the statements of the head of the Investigative Committee are the position of the Russian leadership. “Not being Bastrykin’s press secretary, I cannot answer your question,” he said.

The president’s press secretary recalled that “the Internet has been repeatedly spoken about as a territory for the free exchange of information.” At the same time, he noted that this exchange should be “somehow regulated.” According to him, there was also “talk about continuing constant attempts to find a golden mean” between freedom on the Internet and limiting the breeding ground for the spread of deadly manifestations, such as prostitution and human trafficking.

The day before in the Kommersant magazine. Power” published Bastrykin’s column “It’s time to put an effective barrier to the information war.” According to the head of the Investigative Committee, for the last decade Russia has been “living in conditions of a so-called hybrid war unleashed by the United States and its allies,” which is being waged in various directions, including “information.” Bastrykin called the consequences of the “information war” “the most destructive” and proposed putting an “effective barrier” to it.

Demanding to stop “playing false democracy,” Bastrykin proposed, among other things, “to determine the limits of censorship in Russia of the global Internet,” using the experience of China, which in March of this year introduced “a ban on the operation of electronic media that are fully or partially owned by foreign residents.” In addition, the head of the Investigative Committee proposed installing filters in public Internet access areas that limit access to sites with extremist materials, and also consider introducing criminal penalties for “possessing such materials, collecting them, or downloading them from a computer.” Finally, Bastrykin proposed introducing criminal liability for denying the results of national referendums.

To suppress the financing of terrorist and extremist activities, Bastrykin proposed introducing criminal liability for the illegal release and circulation of cryptocurrencies, as well as using confiscation of property as a type of criminal punishment. Peskov, commenting on the statements of the head of the Investigative Committee on Tuesday, noted that over the past year Putin has been dealing with the issue of ensuring comfortable work for small, medium and large businesses.

Bastrykin’s proposals regarding tightening control over the Internet were also commented on Tuesday by the head of Roskomnadzor, Alexander Zharov. In his opinion, no radical measures are required to strengthen control in this area.

“I can absolutely say that based on the principles on which we work, we are quite effective in combating illegal information, and I don’t have the feeling that this requires radical correction right now,” Zharov said, answering a question from journalists about the proposals head of the Investigative Committee. He added that it is difficult for him to comment on Bastrykin’s column, Interfax reports .

The Kremlin commented on Bastrykin’s article in the magazine “Vlast”