MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) - A package of bills drawn up as a follow-up to the ban on the disposition of Russian territory passed its third and final reading in the Russian State Duma on Wednesday.
"Any calls to alienate a region or its part from Russia are inadmissible and must be resolutely suppressed. If calls to alienate lands of the Russian Federation are made for the first time, administrative sanctions will be imposed. This person will have to pay a large fine. But if it is a repeat offence, it will entail criminal responsibility: up to four years in prison. Should such calls be followed by actions, the penalty in this case may be up to ten years in prison," State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said when commenting on the initiatives.
The bills are intended to help implement the new constitutional norms within federal legislation, Volodin said.
Chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov, who also co-chairs the working group on constitutional amendments, said that one of the bills proposes changing the conditions for criminal prosecution in the event of "public calls to take actions aimed at undermining the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation," by introducing administrative prejudice.
"Thus, if it is a first-time offence, it will entail administrative responsibility instead of criminal responsibility, as is the case today," Krasheninnikov said.
"There will be criminal responsibility under Article 280.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation if a repeat offence is committed within a year," he said. The bills also propose raising the criminal fines for such offences from 200,000 rubles to 400,000 rubles, but keeping the possible prison sentence as it is today, up to four years.
A new article, 20.3.2, of the Code of Administrative Offences will regulate administrative responsibility if such public calls are made for the first time. Fines for ordinary citizens will range from 30,000 rubles to 60,000 rubles, for officials from 60,000 rubles to 100,000 rubles, and for legal entities from 200,000 rubles to 300,000 rubles.
Larger fines will be imposed in cases when public calls are made via the media, the Internet, or via other information telecommunications and electronic networks. They will range from 70,000 rubles to 100,000 rubles for ordinary citizens, from 100,000 rubles to 200,000 rubles for officials, and from 300,000 rubles to 500,000 rubles for legal entities.
The second bill proposes adding a new article, 280.2, "Violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation," to the Criminal Code.
It carries criminal liability for "the disposition of parts of Russian territory or other actions aimed at undermining territorial integrity (except for border delimitation work with adjoining states)," Krasheninnikov said.
Such an offence will carry a sentence from six to ten years in prison.
The aforementioned bills were submitted to the State Duma by Krasheninnikov and Senator Andrei Klishas.