The government did not support the idea of ​​not punishing volunteers for fakes and discrediting if they are not related to military operations

On October 2, the Government Commission on Legislative Activities approved conclusions on a number of parliamentary initiatives (Kommersant has materials for the commission meeting). Thus, the Cabinet of Ministers did not support the idea of ​​the leader of “New People” Alexei Nechaev not to punish for fakes and discrediting volunteers if the disseminated information is not related to military operations. The government also considered the proposals of State Duma Vice Speaker Boris Chernyshov to introduce compulsory insurance for major repair services and to additionally indicate in stores the price per kilogram and liter of food products excessive. But, albeit with reservations, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the communist Vladimir Kashin in his desire to help farmers, as well as the representative of United Russia Natalya Kostenko with the initiative to give business ombudsmen the right to consider complaints from the self-employed.

Alexey Nechaev prepared his initiative shortly after the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner PMC. In it, the deputy proposed not to punish for fakes and discrediting volunteers if the disseminated information “relates to actions outside the combat zone.” To do this, according to Mr. Nechaev, Art. should be adjusted accordingly. 207.3 of the Criminal Code (CC) on liability for spreading fakes about the army and Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) on discrediting the armed forces. Initiatives requiring such changes cannot be submitted to the State Duma without the government’s recall, so the bill was immediately sent to the Cabinet of Ministers. But the party member was not supported there. The government’s comments state that “the mere dissemination of any information about volunteer formations, organizations or individuals assisting in the implementation of tasks assigned to the armed forces of the Russian Federation” does not constitute criminal offenses under these articles. In addition, Mr. Nechaev’s bills use the term “combat zone,” the content of which is not disclosed either in the legislation or in the proposed draft, “which will lead to difficulties in law enforcement.”

Another project of the “New People” was also rejected – amendments to the Town Planning Code, establishing the requirement that the construction period for utilities, transport, and social infrastructure during the implementation of the agreement on the integrated development of the territory should not exceed the construction period for residential premises. According to the Cabinet of Ministers, this could lead to “delaying the implementation of integrated development projects for territories.”

The government also did not support two bills by State Duma Deputy Speaker Boris Chernyshov (LDPR). In one of them, he proposed introducing compulsory insurance for a period of at least five years for services for major repairs of apartment buildings. The Cabinet of Ministers responded that the Housing Code already established a warranty period for major repairs, and the materials for the Liberal Democrat bill do not contain calculations or forecasts of the financial and economic consequences of its implementation. In the second bill, Mr. Chernyshov proposed obliging food sellers to indicate on price tags information about the price per kilogram or one liter (this would help consumers easily compare their actual costs for goods in different packaging). This will require additional calculations, which will lead to higher prices for goods, the government is worried.

But when considering the bills of the Chairman of the Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues Vladimir Kashin (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) and a group of senators on the definition of farm products and measures of state support for their sales, disagreements arose in the government. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Industry and Trade supported the initiative, but the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice did not. In the final official review, the government supported the bill, taking into account the revision for the second reading. One of the comments concerns the rule on granting regions the right to determine the procedure and rules for holding competitions for aggregators of farm products. In order for the requirements for the latter to be uniform, it is better to transfer these powers to the government, the review says. Also, according to the Cabinet of Ministers, adding to the list of areas of state support for farm products will require additional funds from the budget, and the financial and economic justification for the bill does not say anything about this. In addition, the government considers it necessary to supplement the bill with a provision allowing agricultural consumer cooperatives to act as aggregators of farm products without competitive selection.

The government also supported amendments by deputy Natalya Kostenko (United Russia) to the law on business ombudsmen, provided that it is finalized before being submitted to the State Duma. The author proposes to give the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs under the President and his regional colleagues the rights and powers to consider complaints from individuals applying the special tax regime “Professional Income Tax” (in fact, we are talking about the self-employed). As a result of the adoption of the amendments, the workload on the commissioners’ offices may increase, which will require an increase in the number of their offices and, accordingly, budget expenditures, and it is necessary to think about how to do without additional allocations from the federal budget, the government believes.

Ksenia Veretennikova