“Deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the final third reading passed a law that introduces administrative responsibility for “finding deliberately extremist materials and accessing them”, in particular with the use of VPN services.”, – WRITE: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: “Interfax”, “Medusa”
Details: The amendments were supported by 306 deputies, 67 opposed, 22 deputies abstained.
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The amendment of responsibility for the search for “extremist” materials was made on July 14, the second reading of the bill concerning “strengthening administrative responsibility for individual offenses in the field of freight forwarding activities”.
For a “deliberate search for extremist materials” it is suggested to be fined from three thousand to five thousand rubles. The penalties are also imposed for the “violation of the order of use” VPN services. Citizens for the distribution of VPN services advertising threaten fines from 50 to 80 thousand rubles, officials – from 80 to 150 thousand rubles, legal entities – from 200 to 500 thousand rubles.
Russian deputies also adopted the amendment to recognize the aggravating circumstance of “committing a crime using VPN services”.
During the consideration of amendments in the third reading on the State Duma on Tuesday, the head of the Ministry of Defense Maxut Shadayev spoke. According to him, the government’s understanding of the law “makes it possible to balance: on the one hand – to prevent the further spread of extremist materials, on the other hand – not to make a decision to block large Western platforms.”
He argues that “ordinary users will not be injured” through the adoption of the law. As possible, he did not specify.
The Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy Sergey Boyarsky, commenting on the law, noted that amendments provide punishment for the deliberate search and use of extremist materials on the List of the Ministry of Justice. “It now has about 5.5 thousand such materials,” he said.
The Chairman of the Committee noted that the law does not provide for penalties for the use of Instagram and Facebook prohibited in Russia with VPN.
The first deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on Information Policy, Anton Gorrelkin also explained that “the very fact of using VPN will not be considered an offense.”
The amendments were opposed by the faction “New People”, notes “Russian Air Force Service”. The first deputy chairman of the faction Vyacheslav Davankov, speaking at the plenary session, stated that he did not see such rejection of the initiative by citizens since the introduction of QR code during Kovid. According to the Telegram-channel “Ostorozhno, Novosti”, deputies from the CPRF and “Just Russia” also opposed.
The criticism of the amendments earlier, in particular, the propagandist Margarita Simonyan and the head of the League of safe Internet Kateryna Mizulin. Kremlin leader Dmitry Peskov said that the proposal to be fined for finding “extremist materials” requires more explanations.
On the morning of July 22, politician Boris Nadezhdin and his associates came out with a picket against the adoption of amendments to the State Duma building. Several people were detained.