Russian parliament debates tough new bill against street rallies - Electronic Cigarette Accessories

 Russian parliament debates tough new bill against street rallies - Electronic Cigarette Accessories

 

Business,Business News,Business Opportunities MOSCOW – The Kremlin-controlled Russian parliament held a marathon sessionTuesday to ram through a draconian bill that would raise fines150-fold for people taking part in unsanctioned rallies in a bid todiscourage the opposition from challenging President VladimirPutin. The bill would jack up fines from the current 2,000 rubles to300,000 rubles ($9,000) in response to a series of massive proteststhat have reflected a growing public irritation with Putin's12-year rule. The potential punishment is more severe than for manyother crimes, includ

ing even violations in the storage of nuclearmaterials. The opposition factions in the lower house, the State Duma, putforward several hundred amendments in an unprecedented attempt tostymie the bill's passage that reflected their new willingness tostand up to the Kremlin. Members of the Kremlin's majority UnitedRussia party patiently voted them down one by one in a sessionlasting many hours longer than usual. The Kremlin wants the new bill become law by next Tuesday when theopposition plans a new massive protest. Opposition leaders warned that the law would exacerbate tensions

 inRussian society and leave the public with no free outlet for theirdiscontent. "In the past, tightening the screws in Russia has only causedbloodshed. This is a sure path to a civil war," Gennady Gudkov ofthe opposition Fair Russia faction said, addressing the Duma."You're assuming responsibility for the country's future andpushing it toward a crisis, collapse and bloodshed." United Russia has a majority of the State Duma's 450 seats, makingapproval of the bill that requires a simple majority almostcertain. But Fair Russia and the Communists have submitted morethan 400 amendments to the proposed bill in a bid to slow down thebill's passage and raise public attention. Since returning to the presidency in May, Putin has toughened hisline toward the opposition, whose protests over the winter drew upto

 100,000 onto the streets in an unprecedented challenge to hisrule. Due to term limits, Putin spent four years in the premier'sseat after already serving two consecutive terms as president from2000 to 2008. Several dozen of activists, including the leader of the liberalYabloko party, were detained Tuesday morning outside the State Dumafor holding an unsanctioned gathering. Some of them were releasedshortly afterward. The bill would see maximum fines for taking part in unsanctionedrallies rise from 2,000 rubles ($60) to 300,000 ($9,000). UnitedRussia, originally proposed an increase to a whopping 1.5 millionrubles ($45,000). For public officials, the maximum fine would be raised to 600,000rubles ($18,000) from the current 50,000 rubles ($1,500). For comparison, violating safety precautions in designing, buildingand using nuclear energy facilities that could cause danger orradioactive contagion is punishable by a fine of 200,000 rubles($6,000). The bill's authors also introduced a punishment for any mass publicgathering even if it lacks the formal signs of a political protest.That was a clear response to a series of recent creativedemonstrations in Moscow, whose participants left their slogans andposters at home and walked silently so their actions don't formallycount as rallies. Russian authorities have routinely denied permissions for ralliesto opposition activists or offered rally organizers other venuesaway from the city center. The bill will still need to be approved by the upper house andsigned by Putin, but both steps are formalities. ____ Nataliya Vasilyeva and Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to thisreport from Moscow. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Electronic Cigarette Accessories Manufacturer , China Electric Smoking Pipes, and more. For more , please visit Ego C Cigarette today!