/ world today news/ The Parliament of Crimea proposed to fine users up to 300 thousand rubles for publishing photos and videos with military equipment. At the same time, the Federation Council proposed introducing up to three years in prison for such actions. What are the reasons for such initiatives, how are they similar to the Ukrainian experience, and most importantly, how effective can they be in the current situation?
The Crimean parliament has proposed a fine for photos and videos of military equipment. According to Vladimir Konstantinov, Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic, it is proposed to impose a fine for publishing data on the location of military facilities and the operation of air defense for individuals up to 30 thousand rubles, for employees – up to 100 thousand, and for legal entities – 300,000. In the event of a repeat violation, the fine will increase almost twice.
The fact that Crimea initiated changes in federal legislation to tighten responsibility for the dissemination in the public space of photographic and video recordings of military and strategic objects, the work of air defense and other defense systems, as well as the results of terrorist attacks, was previously reported by the head of region Sergey Aksyonov.
We remind you that the peninsula has repeatedly repelled attacks from Ukraine. The most frequent targets of attack are the Sevastopol Bay, the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and the Crimean Bridge, which was subjected to a massive attack by drones and S-200 missiles last weekend.
Against this background, Andrey Klishas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, said that the Federation Council is preparing amendments to the Administrative and Criminal Code to impose fines of up to 500,000 rubles or imprisonment of up to three years in case of recidivism for dissemination of information revealing the deployment of Russia’s armed forces, including drone photos and videos.
The senators, Klishas added, also drafted a bill banning the distribution of photos and videos of shelling sites, drone attacks and other military information in the media and on the Internet, except for material officially distributed by the Russian Defense Ministry. Klishas’ colleague in the Federation Council, Konstantin Dolgov, said that security issues and “reasonable confidentiality” should be respected – this is the need of the hour. “However, when preparing legislative initiatives, it is important to take into account the technical and organizational readiness of the infrastructure. If a fine or a ban is introduced, then there must be an infrastructure to ensure that ban,” explained the senator.
For the first time, a proposal to introduce administrative and criminal liability for publishing data on air defense personnel and drone flights was made in May after a series of attacks on Moscow and the Moscow region by Ukrainian UAVs. Experts stressed that such proposals require careful study and should not become a repressive phenomenon.
It should be noted that in Ukraine such measures were introduced some time after the beginning of the SVO. In particular, the law provides for criminal responsibility for publishing photos and videos of military equipment and movements of the Ukrainian military, locations of shelling, missile flight paths, the work of the Ukrainian Air Defense – up to the names of streets, bus stops and shops. Violation of the law is punishable by imprisonment for up to 12 years.
As a result, Ukrainian security forces began to conduct actions and detain hundreds of people. All these phenomena caused a negative public attitude towards the authorities, and the leakage of information continues to this day. In this regard, Senator Dolgov emphasizes that there is no need to repeat the Ukrainian experience in Russia, but there should still be the necessary degree of protection of information about the military facilities of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
“I am in favor of all sensitive information being protected, especially during the SVO period. This is necessary so that we do not cause damage to our military, infrastructure and citizens. It is clear that any action can fall into the lens of the camera, but the question is another – where does this information go afterwards? These are important details. It’s one thing to just take a photo by accident, it’s another thing to post it on the web. These are different things,” the senator is convinced.
The Russian expert community also noted that there should be civil or criminal liability only if there is a military or critical infrastructure object in the frame, for example, a nuclear power plant.. However, the State Duma believes that the person suspected of intentionally “leaking” the video of the drone attack , will have the opportunity to prove his innocence.
“People will be able to prove in court how accidental the filming of the drone attack was. If the incident happened during the filming of a kayak race, as happened recently in Moscow, then probably no one will specifically fine the author of the video,” said Oleg Matveichev, deputy chairman of the Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications of The word. .
According to the deputy, the legislators’ proposals are “for people to stop giving information about targeting the enemy’s special services”. “In Ukraine, they look at what missiles or drones were aimed at and where they hit, then make adjustments for the next strikes. Why should we facilitate them? The filming of the arrivals should be done only by forensic experts and those who are directly involved in the investigation of these incidents”, Matveichev is sure.
The deputy believes that the Ukrainian experience in banning shooting at incoming aircraft has yielded results – the number of such posts on social networks and messengers has decreased significantly. “Now in the Ukrainian segment of social networks, you will not find posts that criticize the authorities and sow panic. They have a continuous jubilation for the footage posted by Russian users,” said Matveichev.
“I don’t understand why I should photograph drone flights and objects that are under attack. Does the person take great pleasure in it? Why make it public? They are used against the security of the state. The attacked object can be subjected to a new attack,” said Sergei Tsekov, a senator from Crimea. According to him, when and if absurdities appear in the application of the law, they will be corrected.
“If a person happened to witness an assault, then there is no need to release the footage to the public. Why post this? To make others happy or upset? Yes, you can become an accidental eyewitness, but why pour the video into the information space?” adds the senator.
The interlocutor emphasized that such recordings can be used against Russia by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so punishment for the publication of such videos is necessary. “From such clips, it is possible to calculate where the object was hit and who was injured,” Tsekov explained.
But there are other opinions. According to experts, the publication of amateur videos can be useful in the context of the information war that the West has deployed against Russia. Such videos are able to quickly disprove the false information of the Ukrainian and Western media about the consequences of the strikes. In other words, such videos simplify the fight against fakes.
“On the one hand, we are in a cross-border information space, and here it is difficult to hide from incoming information from the enemy. If we cannot say that the enemy is lying and confirm this with an invoice, then there will be more trust in the enemy,” says Pavel Danilin, director of the Center for Political Analysis and Social Research.
“In general, from an information security perspective, there are a number of questions about how to ensure that foreign propaganda is countered and that we don’t look like fools. It is clear that the reaction of the state structures will always be slow and this can lead to a devaluation of trust,” the interlocutor admits. On the other hand, the political scientist adds, the amateur footage of the arrivals can also be used for a new attack, so one should think not only about informational security, but also about physical security.
“If we are talking about systematic work on this matter, then, frankly, it is not carried out at all. But the topic of bans is a sign of the lack of any kind of work. For some government agencies, this may be convenient, but for society, the existence of such a bill can become a threat… Therefore, we must find a common denominator, achieve a balance and take into account all the nuances of security, “warns the expert.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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