Second reading approves ban on discrediting and fakes about those who provide assistance to the army

The State Duma adopted in the second reading a bill banning the dissemination of fakes and discrediting information about those who assist the Armed Forces. On March 1, the State Construction Committee approved the amendments for the second reading.

The amendments amend Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code (public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces) and art. 280.3 of the Criminal Code (public actions aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces). Now, criminal punishment is provided for fakes and discrediting the actions of not only the army, but also volunteer units, organizations and individuals that assist in the performance of its tasks.

The deputies also toughened the punishment for fakes: in particular, imprisonment now threatens up to five years, and not up to three. At the same time, the maximum punishment under this article will remain the same – up to 15 years in prison if the fakes caused serious consequences. The punishment for discrediting is also increased to five years instead of three, and if the actions caused harm to health, riots, then the punishment will be up to seven years in prison instead of five. Corresponding amendments are made to Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (public actions aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces).

Amendments to the Criminal Code were made to the second reading of the bill, which establishes criminal liability for illegal entry into protected facilities, and to the Code of Administrative Offenses – to the second reading of the bill on liability for the dissemination of information in the media with instructions on the illegal manufacture of ammunition. Their authors were State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, Vice Speaker Irina Yarovaya, chairmen of the Duma Security Committee Vasily Piskarev and Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov.

Irina Pankina, the first deputy chairman of the State Construction Committee, said that the amendments are aimed “at establishing a single legal regime for regulating all categories of participants in the special military operation.” She recalled that in November, the deputies adopted a law that equated the status of volunteers with military personnel.

Communist Aleksey Kurinny asked Pankina why amendments were made to the bill, which dealt with changing Art. 215.4 of the Criminal Code (illegal entry into a protected facility). In his opinion, this is a violation of the concept of the bill. In addition, amendments are made to the bill for the second reading and there is no conclusion of the Supreme Court for them – and such conclusions are mandatory for amendments to the Criminal Code. Pankina stated that there were no violations of the regulations.

325 people voted for the amendments to the Criminal Code, 12 people voted against, and one person abstained. Corresponding amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses were adopted by 329 votes in favor, eight people voted against, one person abstained.

The third reading of the bill is due on March 14.

In itself, the disclosure of any facts cannot be a crime if these facts are true, says Aleksey Dobrynin, managing partner of the Pen & Paper Bar Association: elements of any crime. However, if it is recognized that the dissemination of such information is aimed precisely at discrediting the assistance provided by volunteers in the performance of tasks by the Armed Forces, the risk of criminal liability will become real. Here, law enforcement officers have a very large margin of appreciation, since the norms of the law are blurred, the lawyer emphasizes.

He believes that a deliberate negative assessment of the activities of volunteer formations, aimed at preventing participation in them or their participation in hostilities, making a connection between criminal experience and its use during a special operation, etc., can be recognized as punishable discrediting. not about value judgments, but about the dissemination of information about facts, then liability will arise if deliberately false information is disseminated under the guise of reliable information, ”says Dobrynin.

Legislators expand the objective side of the offenses under Art. 207.3, 280.3 of the Criminal Code, and “ensure the information security of volunteer formations, such as Wagner PMC,” says Dmitry Gorbunov, a partner at Rustam Kurmaev and Partners. He believes that if the law is adopted, criminal prosecution may await those, for example, who publicly disseminated deliberately false information about the lack of promotion of the military personnel of the Wagner PMC.

The expert draws attention to questions that may arise when the official reports of the Ministry of Defense on the progress of the special operation differ significantly from the comments of representatives of volunteer formations: “Which source in this case will be recognized as reliable, and which as a fake?”

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner PMC and the Concorde campaign, asked to fix the rule on discrediting volunteers in the legislation. A letter with such a request was published on January 24 in the social networks of the Concord company. The businessman pointed out that a large number of volunteers, including those previously convicted, were participating in the military operation, who “courageously and worthily fulfill their duty to the Motherland.” But, as Prigozhin noted, the media, bloggers and Telegram channels are looking for “negative information” about them.

After the amendments were made on March 1, Prigozhin managed to send Volodin another letter (it was published on the social networks of the Concord company), in which he asked not to apply the amendments made by the deputies to the top command staff of volunteers, including PMC Wagner, and the top command staff of the Ministry of Defense, since “this is necessary to ensure the transparent and responsible exercise of their powers.”