Expulsion of foreigners from Russia may be replaced with fine in some cases - amendments

MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) - The State Duma Legislation and State-Building Committee approved amendments on Monday on enforcing punishment in the form of expulsion from Russia.

Specifically, the amendments envisage that a judge can replace expulsion with a fine, bearing in mind the attitude to tax payment, availability of housing, law-abiding behavior of a foreign citizen or a stateless person, their family status, duration of life in Russia, occupation, and other circumstances.

If a judge concludes that administrative expulsion from Russia "is an excessive restriction of the right to respect private life and is disproportionate to the purposes of administrative punishment, and also if there is no state that is ready to accept the stateless person on its territory," administrative punishment in the form of an administrative fine from 40,000 rubles to 50,000 rubles or 150 to 200 hours of compulsory labor is given.

Exceptions will be made for situations when punishment is given under some articles of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses concerning propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences, gender change, propaganda of pedophilia, and evasion by a foreigner of expulsion.

According to the amendments, a judge takes the said circumstances into account in general when deciding on administrative punishment involving forced expulsion or controlled independent departure by a foreigner of Russia.

Additionally, the amendments envisage that a stateless person who has applied for a temporary identification document of a stateless person in Russia, and also a person who has received the said document or has applied for identification is not subject to administrative liability for violating the rules governing entry in Russia, regulations governing stay in Russia, illegal work in Russia or violation of immigration rules if such violations were found when the said applications were filed.

The amendments were approved during the second reading of a bill, submitted by the Russian government in 2017.