The law is targeted against those who are telling the truth about the annexation of Crimea
Ivan Bolshakov on the new law on the inadmissibility of violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation
Ivan Bolshakov’s Facebook post, 8.07.2020
They introduced the first bill for implementation of the new Constitution – [targeted at] declaring those who allegedly call for a violation of the territorial integrity of the country as extremists.
The priorities of the Kremlin are evident. Now that the vote [on the Putin’s amendments to the Constitution] has taken place, they can no longer pretend that everything was conceived for the sake of indexation of pensions, protection of animals or the Russian language. That is why, the first law is repressive, directed against those who are telling the truth about the annexation of Crimea.
Although, I must say that there is nothing new here yet. The Criminal Code already has an article for calls for violation of territorial integrity. It is likely that they will now use it more actively and interpret it in an expanded form, bringing to criminal liability for the word “annexation”.
Pavel Krasheninnikov [lawyer and MP from the ruling United Russia party] says they are clarifying the wording. We will, probably, also clarify our own wording, but we will not fundamentally change our stance:
- The accession of Crimea to Russia was unlawful.
- The preservation of the territorial integrity of Russia within its internationally recognised borders has been and remains the most important priority of Yabloko.
Source
Posted: July 8th, 2020 under Constitutional Amendments, Foreign policy, Governance, Human Rights, Russia-Ukraine relations, Без рубрики.