The State Duma named those who will be responsible for Russophobia

Criminal liability for Russophobia will affect officials who plant such an ideology on the citizens of their countries. About it told Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya in an interview with Izvestia.

“Russophobia is produced primarily by officials, and responsibility must lie with them. The citizens of these countries are under the yoke of the Russophobia implanted by them. Officials instill a misanthropic ideology and offer to act illegally and criminally on the territory of their countries, massively discriminate against the rights of Russians and compatriots,” the Vice Speaker said.

Yarovaya noted that not only Russian citizens, but also compatriots will receive protection from Russophobia. For example, denial of medical care and employment, restrictions on the use of the Russian language, removal of theatrical performances will be considered violations of their rights. She said that the parliamentarians have already “started with the relevant departments to work out legal norms, legal decisions.”

Member of the Board of the Russian Bar Association Dmitry Lipin told the newspaper that the term “Russophobia” needs to be defined first. According to him, it is possible to introduce liability for inciting hatred or enmity towards the Russians, but “that we have mechanisms to enforce such decisions of our courts, which is unlikely today.”

Yarovaya announced the need to introduce criminal liability for the manifestation of Russophobia in mid-May. According to the deputy, this is necessary in order to “stop those who, <…> betraying the sovereign interests of their citizens and their countries, embarked on a Russophobia race.”

At the same time, the idea of ​​a legislative definition of the concept of “Russophobia” was expressed back in March. Then the head of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society and human rights (HRC), Valery Fadeev, said that an article should be introduced into the Criminal Code for the manifestation of Russophobia. He recalled that President Vladimir Putin instructed the council to figure out before May 1 whether a new article was needed or whether existing ones were enough.