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Decree: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday
Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev / AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has passed another law against the spread of alleged fake news.
Fines or imprisonment are now threatened not only because of "fake news" about the Russian armed forces, but also about the work of Russian state organs abroad, as the media in Moscow reported on Saturday.
This applies, for example, to the work of authorities, embassies or trade missions, about whose work abroad the Kremlin believes that false information could be spread.
The Kremlin published the law signed by Putin late Friday evening.
Accordingly, the "public dissemination of deliberately false information under the guise of truthful communications" threatens penalties of between 700,000 rubles (currently 6,300 euros) and 1.5 million rubles (13,500 euros) or imprisonment for up to three years.
The law serves those who "protect Russia's interests outside its borders," MP Alexander Chinstein had previously said.
The penalties for public officials who committed such acts are significantly harsher – fines of between three and five million rubles or imprisonment of between five and ten years.
In the case of particularly serious consequences for the spread of such false news, there is a risk of up to 15 years in prison.
The laws are controversial because, according to critics, the interpretation of what is right and what is wrong is left to the arbitrariness of the power apparatus.
A separate law also prohibits discrediting the work of Russian state organs abroad.
Russia recently tightened its laws again in the course of the war against Ukraine.
ak/dpa
