The Russian Criminal Code (russian: Уголовный кодекс Российской Федерации, frequently abbreviated УК РФ) is the prime source of the
Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation came into force on 1 January 1997. On 8 January 1997, President
Yeltsin signed the Criminal Correctional Code to regulate the conditions of the sentences. The new Criminal Code replaced the
Soviet analogue of 1960. The main changes deal with
economic crimes and
property crimes. These were the main pitfalls of the Soviet Criminal Code, as most of the other chapters were already amended to correspond to new Russian realities.
Modifications
2022
In March 2022, the
Russia fake news law
The Russian fake news laws are a group of federal laws prohibiting the dissemination of information considered "unreliable" by Russian authorities, establishing the punishment for such dissemination, and allowing the Federal Service for Supervision ...
was added to the criminal code, as Article No. 207.3, titled "Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation." The new law provides for a prison sentence of up to 15 years for knowingly disseminating false information about the
Russian Armed Forces
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...
.
''
Washington Post'' interpreted the law to have the effect of criminalising the use of the term "invasion" to describe the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, and forcing journalists and citizens using
online social networks
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for ...
to use the official term "special military operation" to refer to the invasion.
See also
*
Civil Code of Russia
*
Offences Code of Russia
References
External links
Full text of Criminal Code (in Russian)Full text of Criminal Code (in English)(1996)
Russia
Criminal code
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