“The bill on whistleblowing faces an unenviable fate” – Kommersant FM

Criticism is good, but denunciation is bad, – this is how the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov commented on the initiative of the New People party at the request of Kommersant FM. The essence of the proposal is to introduce administrative punishment for abuse of the right to appeal to government bodies. The corresponding bill has been sent to the government for licensing. At the same time, the Kremlin is not ready to admit that the problem of denunciation is widespread. Kommersant FM political commentator Dmitry Drize, for his part, does not support the document.

There is another sensation in Russia: probably for the first time in Russian history, there is talk of giving a legislative definition to the concept of “informalization.” It is proposed to determine the difference, roughly speaking, between a bad and a good informer. In particular, between those who care about the cause, and those who, for example, want to drive away their neighbor in order to appropriate his property.

Yes, indeed, the problem has existed for a long time, even a very long time. It is sung both in literature and in art, including stage art, but, as a rule, in a negative connotation.

The New People party has sent a bill to the government for review, which proposes to introduce administrative penalties for citizens for abusing the right to appeal to government bodies. As noted in the explanatory note, the culture of denunciation is being revived in the Russian Federation, so only the law can stop informers. It’s a strong word: “culture of denunciations.” The phrase is doomed to immortality. Physical culture, culture of values, folk culture and culture of denunciation…

Another sign of the times should also be noted. Today there are public figures in the country whom some unconstructive citizens call professional informers. That is, they occupy special positions, the essence of which is informing. Others will object: these are not informers, but social activists who fight various kinds of violators, this is a noble mission – who, if not them?

However, enough reasoning. Who will judge? The Kremlin, who else? Press secretary of the head of state Dmitry Peskov makes the following judgment: “If we are talking about open criticism, with an open face, of certain processes, this is good, but denunciation was, is and will be bad.” Let’s not argue. Only here there may be some cynic here who will say: for such open-faced criticism you can sometimes end up in a closed room.

So it seems that the bill faces an unenviable fate. United Russia does not seem to support him either. And maybe that’s a good thing. There is no need for legislative innovations here, because there is a risk that this will only make things worse for the ordinary person in the first place.

So he decides to complain to his boss or, say, to the management company, saying that the snow is not removed, or the roof in the house is leaking. And for this time, he’s in jail. But have you, dear comrade, abused your right to appeal to government bodies?

Because this right is not given to everyone, but only to those who are entitled to it, who have passed the appropriate approvals at all levels and have a positive characterization. And the rest can only criticize various processes “with an open face” in order to know who, why and why the topic was raised, and then, if necessary, draw conclusions. So, in general, it is better to let everything remain as it is – for the common good.

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