According to president Vladimir Putin, those in Crimea who voted to secede from Ukraine were simply exercising their right to self-determination, and the Kremlin continues to condemn Kiev's military operation against separatists in eastern Ukraine. But that hasn't stopped Russia's parliament from toughening punishments for separatist ideas in its own country.
New legislation introduced by Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council's committee on constitutional legislation, seeks to increase the maximum punishment from three to four years imprisonment for "public calls for actions violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation." The bill also adds lesser punishments including arrest for up to six months and compulsory work for up to three years.
The existing law stipulates up to five years' imprisonment if the calls for separatism are made through mass media outlets, including online outlets, but Klishas's proposed amendments would expand it to cover "all internet resources". In other words, any internet user leaving a comment on a forum or social network could be held liable for separatist agitation, the business newspaper Vedomosti reported. The bill seems likely to pass, since it was submitted with favourable reviews of the legislation by the executive branch and the supreme court.
"This legislation was written with Crimea in mind, to exclude the possibility for any discussions on this topic," blogger and analyst Oleg Kozyrev told Vedomosti. Russia's parliament added article 280.1 against "public calls for actions violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation" to the criminal codex in December 2013, and it came into force this month. No one has been charged under this article so far.
A government crackdown on independent media has been accompanied by stricter regulations on the internet in recent months. Putin signed a controversial law earlier this month forcing popular bloggers to register with the government's internet watchdog.
Meanwhile, the government was discussing on Friday the creation of an "internet ombudsman" position, according to the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The newspaper reported that one of the candidates for the position was conservative MP Sergei Zheleznyak, who has authored a variety of moralistic legislation, as well as initiatives to increase the authorities' access to internet users' information.