MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Valery Fadeyev, head of the Russian presidential Human Rights Council, has called for defining the notion of Russophobia in legal terms and determining or enacting a special Criminal Code article to punish those who manifest it.
"And what is Russophobia? We understand it intuitively, but how can you define it legislatively, how can you qualify such actions in the legal language? Our duty today is to try to formulate legally what Russophobia is and what Criminal Code articles can be applied for this qualification, and if there is no such article, then there's a need to add such an article," Fadeyev said at an expanded meeting of the Human Rights Council's standing commission for international cooperation.
While current legislation provides for no tools to punish people living in foreign countries for manifestations of Russophobia, there is a need to develop the necessary legal norms for the future, Fadeyev said.
"This is a job for the future, when we will be capable of punishing those who manifest and undertake such actions against our fellow-citizens and compatriots," Fadeyev said.
"Exclaiming is one thing, but it's a different matter if you put it on a legal foundation and undertake legal actions, including judicial ones and possible convictions," he said.