The bill must be signed by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to enter into force.
Le Monde with AFP
Russian MPs have validated, Tuesday, a law providing for heavy sanctions to punish “misleading information” on the action of Moscow abroad, new repressive weapon in the Russian arsenal for the control of the information on its Offensive in Ukraine.
This text, adopted in third reading, punishes the “public dissemination of information knowingly false under the guise of reliable information” about the “activities of the Russian state organs outside Russian territory”, according to a statement parliament.
It provides for sentences of up to three years in prison, noted at five years if it is a group activity, an “abuse of official position”, of “artificial creation evidence “or if the act is” motivated by hatred or political, ideological, racial, national or religious hostility “. The planned sentence climbs to fifteen years in prison if the “misleading information” have “resulted in serious consequences”.
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter forbidden
The bill, which still needs to be signed by President Vladimir Putin to enter into force, also includes sanctions up to five years in prison for “public actions aimed at discrediting the exercise of their powers. by the Russian state organs outside the territory “.
Since the beginning of his offensive in Ukraine, February 24, Russia has banned many local and foreign media, as well as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter social networks. The American group meta was classified “extremist”. At least three people who had published messages against the conflict on the Internet are already pursued for this reason.