Russia's Federation Council approves bills banning drug propaganda

MOSCOW. Aug 2 (Interfax) - Russia's Federation Council approved a package of bills banning drug propaganda and introducing administrative and criminal liability for this offense at a meeting on Friday.

One of the three bills specifies the definition of propaganda and clarifies which works of art and literature the new legislation will apply to.

"We specified the drugs propaganda term itself. Works of literature and works of art will not be regarded as propaganda if the mention of narcotic drugs in them is an integral part of the artistic concept justified by the genre," Chairman of the State Duma's State-Building and Legislation Committee Pavel Krasheninnikov told journalists earlier.

"All literature published before August 1, 1990, including works by Arthur Conan Doyle and Mikhail Bulgakov, will not be subject" to the measure, Krasheninnikov said.

According to the bill, the notion of propaganda will not apply to specialized medical and pharmaceutical publications that contain information on narcotic substances, psychotropic substances and their precursors permitted for medical uses, as well as to scientific and educational publications, including audiovisual works, that do not contain information on the acceptability, appeal or necessity of illegal drugs use.

Works of literature and works of art mentioning narcotic substances as an integral element of the artistic concept will have to be marked accordingly. The Culture Ministry will compile the list of works of literature that will be labeled this way.

Two other bills passed by the State Duma introduce liability for breaching these requirements.

According to the bill, "dissemination or the public demonstration of literary works and works of art containing information on narcotics, psychotropic substances, their analogues or precursors, or plants containing narcotics or psychotropic substances or their precursors in breach of the requirements concerning the marking of the said works" will lead to warnings or administrative fines being imposed on citizens in an amount of 2,000 rubles to 4,000 rubles with confiscation of the products that became the subject of the administrative offence; the fines for legal entities will range from 300,000 rubles to 600,000 rubles, also with confiscation of the products.

Propaganda of such substances will be punishable by a fine of 4,000 rubles to 5,000 rubles for citizens, including the confiscation of such products, and by a fine of 800,000 rubles to 1 million rubles for entities with the confiscation of such products.

Propaganda of the these substances on the Internet will lead to a fine in an amount of 5,000 rubles to 30,000 rubles on citizens and one million rubles to 1.5 million rubles on legal entities.

If such actions are committed by a foreign citizen, a fine in an amount of 5,000 rubles to 30,000 rubles with confiscation of products and with administrative expulsion from Russia is possible.

In cases of propaganda via the Internet, individuals sentenced to administrative sanctions twice over one year or persons with a previous conviction will be ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 rubles to 300,000 rubles or will be sentenced to up to two years in prison.

The bills are expected to take effect on September 1, 2025.