Deputy Minister of Justice Loginov proposed to legislate the concept of “Russophobia”

Deputy Minister of Justice of Russia Andrei Loginov believes that the concept of “Russophobia” must be officially enshrined in the country’s legislation. Vice Speaker of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya, in turn, called for the introduction of criminal penalties for Russophobia in Russia.

“Without going into details of the draft law on combating Russophobia, which we are developing together with you, I quite clearly support the need to consolidate the concept of “Russophobia” in our Russian legislation, the formation of mechanisms for preventing and disseminating information hostile to Russia, its people and language, and establishing responsibility for Russophobic activities,”— informed Andrey Loginov during his speech at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. Mr. Loginov did not name the terms of the possible submission of the bill to the State Duma.

Also during the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, Vice Speaker of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya expressed her opinion on the need to introduce criminal liability for Russophobia. “We must, colleagues, in our legislation, I propose to discuss this, I express my point of view, absolutely precisely define Russophobia as a misanthropic ideology and establish independent criminal liability for Russophobia,” she stressed. According to the deputy, this is necessary in order to “stop those who, betraying the sovereign interests of their citizens and their countries, have embarked on a race of Russophobia.”

As Tatyana Moskalkova, Ombudsman for Human Rights in Russia, said during the forum, the number of complaints related to Russophobia has increased 5 times in 2022. The appeals concerned violations of fundamental human rights – the right to private property, the right to freedom of economic activity.

On January 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin following the meeting of the Human Rights Council named Russophobia as a “political technology for the fight against Russia and the social mobilization of Europeans.” In this regard, he instructed to make the necessary additions or a new article on Russophobia to the Criminal Code, qualify this phenomenon in the legal field and determine the measure of responsibility.

Alexander Kislov