At a meeting on Friday the State Duma adopted a draft law in the second and the third reading, including criminal liability for calls for the introduction of foreign sanctions against Russia.
The Russian Criminal Code will now be updated by a new article “Calls for the introduction of restrictive measures against the Russian Federation, citizens of the Russian Federation or Russian legal entities.” The draft legislation will cover individuals with previous administrative responsibility for related offenses during a year.
Such deeds will be punishable with a fine of up to 500,000 rubles ($4,700) or in the amount of the salary or any other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three years, or by deprivation of liberty, obligatory labor for up to three years, arrest for up to six months, or imprisonment for up to three years with a possible fine of up to 200,000 rubles ($2,000) or in the amount of the convicted person’s salary for a period of up to one year.
If the offense is repeated within a year, criminal liability will already be imposed for it. The State Duma also made the necessary changes to the Russian Criminal Code at a meeting on Friday.
Lukashenko believes West wants war in Ukraine
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko believes that the West is interested in a prolonged war in Ukraine in order to drown Russia and Belarus in the turmoil. He was speaking at a special ceremony on the occasion of signing into law the decisions adopted in a national referendum on Friday.
“All of them keep shouting about ending war in Ukraine. In public. But they do not need peace at all. What they need there is war, the more of it, the better. In order to drown Russia and us, too, in that war. Their aim is to not let Ukraine make a move,” Lukashenko said.
The Belarusian president believes that “everything else the Western officials may be saying is empty talk.”
“This rhetoric is addressed only to those who do not understand. But you and me know pretty well what this is all about. We are not going to succumb to their lecturing. We know well the way we should go on living and working,” Lukashenko said.
