Task for the summer – Newspaper Kommersant No. 166 (7367) dated 09/09/2022

The summer break in the active work of the State Duma, which is ending this week (the deputies were on vacation until the end of August, and spent the beginning of autumn in the regions), did not stop the legislative process. Both the government and the deputies themselves submitted their bills to the Duma. Some of their initiatives, such as the amendments to completely ban the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations, caused a noticeable public outcry. But many of the opposition’s summer projects should rather be regarded as party PR, the expert believes.

In the summer, the government acted as the main subject of legislative initiative. One of his bills obliges regional officials and deputies to report to the competent authorities about attempts to incline them to corruption within no more than five days. Another initiative gives the president the right to make decisions on the participation of the Armed Forces in joint military cooperation events with foreign states, including in exercises and parades abroad. Finally, the Cabinet proposed to facilitate the use of maternity capital to pay for education: this can be done without providing contracts for the provision of paid services to the Pension Fund.

United Russia (ER) continued to take care of the participants in the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine. Earlier, the Duma adopted amendments by the United Russia to the law “On Veterans”, extending the status of a combat veteran to civilians sent “to ensure the fulfillment of tasks during the JMD in the territories of Ukraine, the DPR and the LPR from February 24, 2022.” Now the United Russia has introduced amendments on free social services for combat invalids, including participants in the SVO. The co-author of the bill, Secretary of the General Council of the United Russia and First Vice Speaker of the Federation Council Andrei Turchak said in his Telegram channel that the list of citizens who can use free social services also included veterans and invalids of the Great Patriotic War, residents of besieged Leningrad and besieged Sevastopol. “These people are already entitled to social services, but now they have to pay for it,” the senator explained. He noted that the authorities of individual regions themselves introduced free social services, but the new project “will make these regional practices a federal rule.”

In addition, United Russia members Dmitry Vyatkin, Olga Timofeeva and Anton Gorelkin submitted to the Duma a bill on the use of the Gosuslugi portal to appeal citizens to the authorities.

The most resonant initiative of the Duma opposition was a bill on a complete ban on propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations (now it is prohibited only among minors). Deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nina Ostanina, Olga Alimova and Alexei Kornienko, representatives of Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP) Yana Lantratova and Nikolai Burlyaev, as well as the leader of the Rodina party Alexei Zhuravlev, who is part of the LDPR faction, proposed to include “denial of family values” and “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to the list of already prohibited information (propaganda of war, inciting hatred and enmity, public calls for terrorism and extremism, propaganda of pornography, a cult of violence and cruelty, etc.), as well as to establish a direct ban on issuing movie theaters certificates for any films containing relevant propaganda.

At the same time, a group of members of the committee on information policy, headed by its chairman Alexander Khinshtein (EP), has prepared, but has not yet submitted its own document, which, in their opinion, is more comprehensive. The deputies propose to amend the current article of the Code of Administrative Offenses by extending the ban on “non-traditional” propaganda to citizens of all ages and increasing the punishment. The maximum fine for individuals will increase from the current 5,000 to 100,000 rubles, for officials from 50,000 to 200,000, and when using the media and the Internet, they will have to pay up to 200,000 and up to 400,000 rubles. respectively. In addition, it was proposed to add two new articles to the Code of Administrative Offenses: on “propaganda of pedophilia” and on the dissemination of “information demonstrating non-traditional sexual relations or preferences” among minors. The draft has been sent to the government for review, and in the autumn the committee is ready to hold its open public discussion.

The project of deputies Lantratova and Ostanina, liberal democrats Leonid Slutsky and Boris Chernyshev, as well as a member of the New People faction Dmitry Pevtsov, is also aimed at protecting “traditional values”. They want to extend the current ban on the adoption of Russian children by Americans to all citizens of “unfriendly” countries. “For many years, the “collective West” has been replacing the concepts of good and evil, destroying traditional family foundations and moral values. “If you want to conquer the people, raise their children.” The transfer of our children to be raised in “unfriendly” countries is a blow to the future of the nation, ”the explanatory note says.

However, some Western values, in the opinion of the deputies, still deserve to be spread in the Russian Federation. So, Dmitry Kuznetsov (SRZP) introduced a bill that is designed to provide Russians with “the cultural heritage of the whole world.” He proposes to license works of culture and software through the court if they have become unavailable in Russia due to the unfriendly actions of the copyright holder.

The opposition has not forgotten about the “social sphere”. For example, the Socialist-Revolutionaries, led by their leader Sergei Mironov, introduced a bill on annual payments to families with schoolchildren and students to purchase everything necessary for their studies. “Families’ expenses for collecting children for school, secondary and higher educational institutions make up a significant part of the family budget,” the explanatory note notes. And deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party proposed to introduce monthly payments for citizens involved in household chores.

Finally, several summer initiatives are related to the protection of the rights of politicians themselves. In particular, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation proposed removing election campaigning from the Internet only by a court decision (now Roskomnadzor has the right to block illegal campaigning at the request of the election commission) and canceling financial reports on rallies. And Dmitry Gusev (SRZP) introduced amendments obliging election commissions to post photos of candidates on stands. The absence of such a requirement “creates the ground for doubles to appear in the elections,” the Socialist-Revolutionary is sure.

According to political scientist Konstantin Kalachev, everything that was introduced in the summer by the government and United Russia will be accepted by the Duma, unlike opposition initiatives. “The LDPR proposal on payments to housewives is unlikely to find support: this is just a good topic for repositioning the party and party PR. The EP proposal to use the Gosuslugi portal to contact the authorities will receive 100% support – the authorities will get even closer to the people, ”the expert argues. In general, of the opposition’s projects, according to him, the proposals of Dmitry Gusev have the greatest chances for support. But the project on the adoption of Russian children by citizens of “unfriendly” countries has no prospects, Mr. Kalachev is sure. Last year, foreigners adopted only 69 children in Russia, he recalls: “There is simply nothing to regulate here. Pure populism.”

Ksenia Veretennikova