Day of Care for the Fatherland – Newspaper Kommersant No. 37 (7482) of 03/03/2023

At the plenary session on Thursday, the State Duma took care of several large groups of Russians at once. The deputies protected volunteers participating in a special military operation from discredit and fakes, businessmen who committed tax violations from prison, and socially oriented NGOs from hacker attacks. But domestic officials were much less fortunate: the Duma charged them with the duty to report on large loans.

Amendments on administrative and criminal punishment for discrediting volunteers participating in a special operation were introduced by a group of United Russia members led by Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin on March 1. To speed up the process, they were included in two bills already adopted in the first reading. On the same day, the amendments were approved by the relevant committee on legislation, and on March 2 they were submitted for the second reading.

Recall that the deputies proposed to distribute Art. 207.3 (public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation) and Art. 280.3 (public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the RF Armed Forces in order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, maintain international peace and security) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in cases of “providing assistance by volunteer formations, organizations or individuals in the performance of tasks assigned to the armed forces of the Russian Federation.” Responsibility under these articles is being tightened: from three to five years in prison for disseminating false information and repeated discrediting, and from five to seven years if discrediting caused death by negligence or harm to the health of citizens, mass violations of public order, etc. Similar changes are included in Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, the same fines will be imposed for discrediting volunteers as for discrediting the army: up to 50 thousand rubles for citizens, up to 200 thousand rubles for officials, up to 500 thousand rubles for legal entities . Criminal liability for discrediting occurs for a repeated violation within a year after bringing to administrative responsibility.

This question did not provoke discussions. Unless Aleksey Kurinny (KPRF) asked if the regulations were violated when making amendments, because they were submitted to bills on other topics, and they did not receive the conclusion of the Supreme Court, which is required when amending the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. However, the first deputy chairman of the committee on legislation, Irina Pankina (United Russia), assured the communist that there had been no violation of the regulations, especially since the issue itself “requires urgent consideration.”

Also, in the first reading, government amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation were adopted, aimed at mitigation of penalties for tax crimes. The bill obliges the investigator to issue a decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case or to terminate an already initiated one in case of payment of arrears and appropriate penalties. The statute of limitations for criminal liability under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is reduced from ten to six years. As Irina Pankina noted when discussing the initiative, it is of particular relevance after the President’s recent message, where he called for an active, but balanced approach to the decriminalization of the economic offenses of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Deputy Minister of Justice Vadim Fedorov told the deputies that the government has other legislative novelties to liberalize the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to a Kommersant source in the Duma, we are talking, in particular, about an increase in the amount of damage in terms of economic composition.

In the first reading, the government amendments to anti-corruption legislation. They oblige officials to report on loans taken by them for a total amount exceeding the total income of an official and his wife (spouse) for the last three years. In addition, it will be necessary to declare transactions made by third parties on behalf and (or) in the interests of an official, his wife (husband) and minor children. It is also proposed to establish a ten-year preemptive period for making a decision on exercising control over expenses, by analogy with the provisions of the Civil Code on the limitation period.

True, the last norm caused bewilderment among the deputy Valery Hartung (“A Just Russia – For the Truth”). “It turns out that we will not check the property acquired ten years ago with corruption proceeds?” he protested.

Anatoly Vyborny (ER), Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Anti-Corruption Committee, agreed that this is “one of the most controversial norms” and suggested discussing it when preparing amendments for the second reading.

In addition, the Duma adopted in the first reading draft law on information security of socially oriented NGOs, which provides for the free placement of their sites and databases on state-owned secure servers. According to Olga Zanko (ER), co-author of the project, the deputies found out that in the Telegram channels, which unite hackers from different countries and are conducted in Ukrainian and English, “instructions are given every day on which Russian sites to attack.” And increasingly, sites of socially oriented NGOs began to appear on the list of goals, United Russia complained. She noted that the Ministry of Digital Transformation is ready to help NGOs ensure the safety of websites using existing budgetary limits.

Olga Timofeeva (ER), chairwoman of the Duma Committee for the Development of Civil Society, agreed that since the beginning of the special operation, the websites of patriotic NGOs have been suffering from hacker attacks. According to her, during the drafting of the bill, it turned out that theoretically, more than 62 million rubles may be required for its implementation, and the Ministry of Digital Development agreed to allocate them from its resources. However, experts consulted by the committee suggested that more money might be needed. In this regard, Mrs. Timofeeva suggested that the government “get involved so that we receive a bill that will immediately begin to work.”

Ksenia Veretennikova, Maria Makutina