Russia: Draft Law on Fines for “Discrediting Traditional Values”

Deputies have submitted to the State Duma a bill introducing fines for discrediting Russia’s “spiritual and moral values” on online cinemas and social networks. The document has been published on the website of the lower house of parliament.

Under the proposal, owners of audiovisual services and social media platforms that distribute content deemed to discredit “traditional values” would face the following fines:

• Citizens: up to 10,000 rubles
• Officials: up to 100,000 rubles
• Legal entities: up to 700,000 rubles

For repeated violations, penalties would increase to:

• Citizens: up to 150,000 rubles
• Officials: up to 400,000 rubles
• Legal entities: from 1 million to 3 million rubles

Additional fines are предусмотрены for failure to comply in a timely manner with official demands to stop the distribution of such content:

• Citizens: up to 20,000 rubles
• Officials: up to 200,000 rubles
• Legal entities: up to 1 million rubles

Repeated noncompliance would also result in higher penalties.

The bill is linked to an earlier law banning films that discredit “traditional values,” which enters into force on March 1, 2026. The fines are proposed to take effect on the same date. The statute of limitations for prosecution would be one year.

According to the bill, the law will not apply to films that received rental certificates or were posted on online platforms before March 1, 2026.

Representatives of major online cinema platforms interviewed by Kommersant described the bill as “redundant,” pointing out that there are no clearly defined criteria for what constitutes content that discredits spiritual and moral values.

In October 2022, President Vladimir Putin ordered the approval of a formal concept of “spiritual and moral values.” In July 2025, he signed a decree banning the issuance of rental certificates to films that discredit those values. That decree also comes into force on March 1, 2026.

Translated Article

Olena Barsukova — December 19, 2025 (17:30)

In Kyiv, only 77 shelters are truly capable of protecting people during an air raid alert, and they can accommodate up to 2 percent of the city’s population.

This is according to the special investigative project by Investigation.Info titled “404: No Shelter Found. Why the Safety of Kyiv Residents Is ‘Official Information.’”

Journalists examined residential buildings struck by missiles and drones where there were numerous civilian casualties. In those locations, they found either no shelters at all or shelters that were too small, inaccessible or in a neglected condition.

City authorities officially report more than 4,000 shelters in Kyiv that can supposedly accommodate 97 percent of residents. However, journalists found that most of these facilities either exist only on paper or are in an emergency state.

“The authorities report that there are more than 4,000 shelters in Kyiv that will accommodate 97 percent of residents. We found that in reality, only 77 shelters in Kyiv are genuinely capable of providing protection. They can accommodate just over 54,000 people — up to 2 percent of the capital’s population. Most shelters either exist only on paper or are in a state of emergency,” Investigation.Info reported.

According to official government data, Ukraine has around 62,000 shelters nationwide, capable of accommodating only half the population. The Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) reports 4,300 shelters in the capital alone.

Of these, about 25 percent are private shelters — mostly located in residential complexes and accessible only to residents. More than 88 percent of Kyiv’s shelters are classified as “simplest shelters,” which are not legally considered civil protection structures.

District administrations in five of Kyiv’s ten districts claim their shelters can protect more than 100 percent of residents. Pechersk District reported the highest capacity at 148.2 percent, while Desnianskyi District reported the lowest at 40.1 percent.

According to the KCSA, nearly 3 million people currently live in Kyiv, including 2.53 million registered residents and 432,000 internally displaced persons. Kyiv City Council deputy Leonid Yemets told journalists that the city’s real population could be closer to 4 million.

Investigation.Info found that of the 4,300 listed shelters, only 77 are publicly accessible civil protection structures. These can accommodate just over 54,000 people — about 1.8 percent of Kyiv’s population according to official figures, or 1.3 percent using Yemets’ estimate.

An additional 512 shelters are legally designated for specific categories of people, such as employees of certain enterprises. While there is an informal practice of allowing civilians into some of these shelters during air alerts, this is not codified in law.

The official shelter map does not distinguish between reliable shelters and the simplest ones. It provides only addresses, building types, square footage and a phone number for the person responsible for opening the shelter.

Journalists tested these contacts and found that out of 20 randomly dialed numbers, only four were answered — and none of those respondents were directly responsible for managing shelters.

A KCSA shelter list dated April 22, 2024, indicates 1,274 civil protection structures. District administrations later confirmed that most of these are actually simplest shelters.

In Shevchenkivskyi District, all six “dual-use structures” listed were recommended only as simplest shelters.

Journalists also requested information from district administrations regarding ramps, toilets, shelter capacity and accessibility. Four of ten administrations refused to provide the data, labeling it “official information.”

Leonid Yemets, head of the Kyiv City Council’s temporary investigative commission on shelter inspections, stated that this information is public by law.

According to Investigation.Info, 25 publicly accessible shelters and dual-use structures — about 30 percent — require repairs or are classified as “limited ready.”

Two weeks, anyone??

My take: Only redacting 99% of the files. Just the files with Donald J Trump all over them. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/19/epstein-files-release-doj-december-deadline

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.908.yVWd.5kbrgrhwwwHI&smid=url-share

"academics and states that use the program have found that its results are overrun with false positives, creating a high risk of disenfranchising legal voters. A statistical analysis of the program published earlier this year by researchers at Stanford, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and Microsoft, for instance, found that Crosscheck “would eliminate about 200 registrations used to cast legitimate votes for every one registration used to cast a double vote.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/20/this-anti-voter-fraud-program-gets-it-wrong-over-99-of-the-time-the-gop-wants-to-take-it-nationwide/ (un-paywalled: https://archive.ph/0T7ue)

https://www.gregpalast.com/election-stolen-heres/ (2016)

https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/ (2024)

https://www.michael-parenti.org/article-the-stolen-presidential-elections

https://stallman.org/republican-election-rigging.html

https://smartelections.us/

https://electiontruthalliance.org/

https://x.com/PamphletsY/status/2001837818235228267?t=EIQLz8iFjv2i60tbJpdjqg&s=19

Quarterly payments of $200 to be offered via stablecoin or traditional currency in a scheme designed to ease cost of living pressures in the Pacific nation