Russia: The State Duma adopted a law on punishment for actions to alienate territories

The State Duma at a plenary meeting on Wednesday adopted a law on criminal punishment up to 10 years in prison for actions to alienate the territories of the Russian Federation.

The initiative was sponsored by the deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov and the senator Andrey Klishas . Changes are being made to the Criminal Code and Articles 30 and 31 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. The deputies have prepared a similar initiative with fines for public calls for the alienation of Russian territories.

According to the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, public appeals made for the first time will face administrative responsibility, and they will be punished under the Criminal Code only in case of a second offense. In this regard, the punishment for such a violation is provided for under the new Article 20.3.2 of the Administrative Code, fines for citizens from 30 to 60 thousand rubles, for officials from 60 to 100 thousand rubles, for legal entities from 200 to 300 thousand rubles.

In addition, the initiative provides for increased fines for cases when public appeals are made using the media, the Internet. In case of a repeated act committed within a year, criminal liability will follow under Article 280.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, while the fines are proposed to be increased by setting from 200 to 400 thousand rubles.

Also, the Criminal Code is supplemented by a new article, which provides for liability for the alienation of a part of the territory of the Russian Federation or other actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity (with the exception of work on defining borders with neighboring states). The penalty is imprisonment for a term of 6 to 10 years.