Since the beginning of the year, 37 criminal cases have been initiated in Russia for disseminating fake information in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was reported on Saturday, December 19, by TASS, citing data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“In 2020, in Russia as a whole, 37 crimes were registered under Article 207.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“ Public dissemination of knowingly false information about circumstances posing a threat to the life and safety of citizens ”),” the message says.
The ministry also noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs from March 1 to December 1, 2020, made 456 protocols for fake news about coronavirus.
Last year, a law on fake news came into force in Russia.
On April 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law to toughen the punishment for disseminating knowingly false information, which led to dire consequences.
The law, depending on the severity of the consequences of the fake, provides for a punishment in the form of a fine from 300 thousand to 2 million rubles, and in the form of imprisonment – for a term of up to three or five years.