Russia - New law that fines and/or incarcerates for fake news about the armed forces and/or for calling for sanctions against Russia - March 4, 2022

[sharon sanders]

Russian source.


Most countries (141 out of 193) in the U.N. General Assembly have called for sanctions against Russia. That is a lot of people to be punished! I am sure they will turn themselves in.


03/04/2022 22:04(updated: 03/04/2022 22:45)
7796

Putin signed the law on punishment for fakes about the Armed Forces
President Putin signed the law on criminal punishment for fakes about the Armed Forces


MOSCOW, March 4 - RIA Novosti. Vladimir Putin signed the federal law on criminal punishment and heavy fines for fakes discrediting the Armed Forces and calls for anti-Russian sanctions. This was reported on the Kremlin website.

The document amends the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes.

Dissemination of deliberately false information about the Russian army will be punished:

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  a fine in the amount of 700 thousand to one and a half million rubles, or in the amount of the wage or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to 18 months;
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  correctional labor for up to a year;
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  forced labor for up to three years;
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  imprisonment for the same period.

For fakes that entailed serious consequences, one can face from ten to 15 years in prison.

20:02

Novaya Gazeta announced that it was deleting materials about the special operation in Ukraine

If a crime is committed by a person using his official position, by a group of persons, by a group of persons by prior agreement or by an organized group, with the artificial creation of evidence of accusation, out of mercenary motives, motivated by political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred, or enmity, or by motives hatred, or hostility towards any social group, then the punishment may be as follows:

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  an administrative fine of three to five million rubles, or in the amount of the wage or other income of the convicted person for a period of three to five years;
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  forced labor for up to five years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to five years;
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  imprisonment for a term of five to ten years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to five years.

22:12

Putin signed a law on expanding sanctions for violating the rights of Russians

Calls to prevent the use of Russian troops to protect the interests of Russia,

snip

In Crimea, they called the law on punishment for fakes about the Armed Forces a continuation of denazification

The bill also provides for punishment for calls for sanctions against Russia:

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  a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles, or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to three years;
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  restriction of liberty for up to three years;
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more..

zhttps://ria.ru/20220304/feyki-1776616209.html

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

War in Ukraine: Russia blocks Facebook and threatens the media with heavy criminal penalties

Vladimir Putin has signed texts providing for sentences of up to fifteen years in prison for journalists as well as individuals, Russians or foreigners, who disseminate "false information about the army".

Le Monde with AFP
Posted yesterday at 9:25 p.m., updated yesterday at 9:36 p.m.

The screed of freedom of expression and information is becoming even heavier in the East. In full invasion of Ukraine, Russia took severe measures, Friday, March 4, against the media with the adoption of texts providing for heavy criminal penalties in the event of dissemination of “false information on the army” . At the same time, the Russian regulator ordered the blocking of the social network Facebook, accused of "discriminating" against Russian media such as the Zvezda defense ministry television or the RIA Novosti news agency. According to journalists present in Russia, Meta's social network no longer worked without a VPN on Friday.

The regulator Roskomnadzor had already announced, Friday, February 25, "limit its access" . According to its leaders, Facebook had been asked to stop fact-checking and labeling certain content from official Russian media “state media” . Request to which Facebook executives refused to accede.

The social network joined the ranks of digital platforms on Monday that suspended the accounts of Russian state media RT and Sputnik in Europe, at the request of the European Commission in particular.

With Facebook blocked in Russia, “millions of ordinary Russians will soon be deprived of reliable information , ” lamented Nick Clegg , president of international affairs for the American group. If the Russians use the Vkontakte platform (equivalent to Facebook) and Telegram more, Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram, as well as YouTube or TikTok, are part of the information spaces for a part of the population, in a media landscape of more and more controlled where the independent titles are gradually pushed to cease their coverage of events.

Roskomnadzor also began "restricting access" to Twitter on Friday after shortly before blocking Facebook, Russian news agencies said.

These blockages are part of an increasingly coercive legislative context for independent media working in Russia.

The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, on Friday signed a law introducing heavy prison sentences for anyone who publishes "false information" about the army, in times of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. . The texts, previously adopted by MEPs and which apply to the general population, and not only to information professionals, also provide for penalties for "calls to impose sanctions on Russia" , which is facing harsh Western retaliatory measures.

The penalties incurred, which can go up to fifteen years in prison, will be applied against those who disseminate "false information" resulting in "serious consequences" for the Russian armed forces.

“Criminalize independent journalism”

The measures taken allow the authorities to strengthen their arsenal to control the story they tell the Russian population of the invasion of Ukraine, presented as a limited operation aimed at protecting Russian-speaking Ukrainians from “genocide” . The Russian authorities have banned the media from using information other than official statements on this subject. They banned the use of words like “war” and “invasion” .

Anticipating the enactment of this law, the BBC denounced measures that aim to "criminalize independent journalism" and announced the suspension of the work of all its journalists in Russia. Its director general, Tim Davie, said the BBC would continue to report in Russian from outside Russia. The audience for its site in Russian has soared to 10.7 million on average per week since the start of the invasion on February 24.

The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta said it was "forced to delete a lot of content" to avoid sanctions, but that it wanted to "continue to work" .

The regulator had previously announced that it had restricted access to the BBC, the German international radio and television station Deutsche Welle (DW), the independent Russian site Meduza (located in Riga), Radio Svoboda, the Russian branch of RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty), Voice of America and other unnamed news sites.

Eight thousand protesters arrested in Russia

On Thursday, the independent Internet television channel Dojd announced the suspension of its activity, and the emblematic radio station Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow), its dissolution following the blocking of their sites.

"After the liquidation of Ekho Moskvy, we are forced to delete all radio accounts in social networks, dissolve our site ," said Friday its editor-in-chief, Alexei Venediktov, on his YouTube channel.

The Russian economic news site The Bell also announced on Friday that it had decided to no longer cover the war in Ukraine, in order to protect its journalists from criminal sanctions.

The media are not the first affected. According to the NGO OVD-Info, more than 8,000 people have been arrested in Russia for having demonstrated, in particular in Moscow and Saint Petersburg (North-West), against the invasion of Ukraine since the day it was launched.

https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/03/04/guerre-en-ukraine-la-russie-bloque-facebook-et-menace-les-medias-de-lourdes-sanctions-penales_6116222_3210.html

[Emily]

The US is going after its own citizens, too. If they don't want us working for disfavored Russians, they should quit financially exterminating citizens who want medical choice. The economy in general isn't great for seniors.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/tv-pr...ated-sanctions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 3, 2022

TV Producer for Russian Oligarch Charged with Violating Crimea-Related Sanctions

Jack Hanick Worked for Konstantin Malofeyev in Violation of U.S. Sanctions and Made False Statements to FBI Agents to Conceal His Sanctions-Violating Conduct

A federal court in the Southern District of New York today unsealed the first-ever criminal indictment charging a violation of U.S. sanctions arising from the 2014 Russian undermining of democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine.
According to court documents, John Hanick, aka Jack Hanick, 71, a U.S. citizen, is charged with violations of U.S. sanctions and false statements in connection with his years-long work for the sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev.

...
According to court documents, in 2014 the President issued Executive Order 13,660, which declared a national emergency with respect to the situation in Ukraine. To address this national emergency, the President blocked all property and interest in property that came within the United States or the possession or control of any U.S. person, of individuals determined by the Secretary of the Treasury to be responsible for or complicit in, or who engaged in, actions or policies that threatened the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine, or who materially assist, sponsor, or provide financial, material, or technological support for, or goods and services to, individuals or entities engaging in such activities. Executive Order 13,660, along with certain regulations issued pursuant to it (the Ukraine-Related Sanctions Regulations) prohibits, among other things, making or receiving any funds, goods, or services by, to, from, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked.

On Dec. 19, 2014, OFAC designated Konstantin Malofeyev as a Specially Designated National (SDN) pursuant to Executive Order 13,660. OFAC’s designation of Malofeyev explained that he was one of the main sources of financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea, and materially assisted, sponsored, and provided financial, material or technological support for, or goods and services to or in support of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, a separatist organization in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk...

[sharon sanders]

The elites are trying to hang onto their stranglehold in every country. It is all relative. "..first-ever criminal indictment charging a violation of U.S. sanctions arising from the 2014 Russian undermining of democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine."

[sharon sanders]

bump this