From now on, one may face more severe punishment – up to five years in prison – for destroying military burial sites and the Second World War memory spaces, including monuments outside Russia.
The law on penalties was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on April, 7. The draft bill authored by the MOD was adopted by the Russian parliament in early March.
Until recently, there has been no separate act prescribing penalty for such violations. The Criminal Code included articles on damaging or destroying historical and cultural monuments, as well as desecrating burial sites. In the light of the foregoing, an additional article will appear: the destruction or damage of military burials, monuments, steles, obelisks and other sites commemorating Motherland defenders in Russia or abroad is to be punishable by imprisonment or fine.
A harsher penalty is to be imposed when the target is burial sites or monuments ‘dedicated to the fight against Nazism <…> during the Great Patriotic War’ and Russian military commanders who confronted Nazis. The Great Patriotic War is the period of the Second World War in 1941-1945, when the USSR fought on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition.
Museums and memorials at battle points will also be treated as monuments. In addition, if offenders resort to violence, a prison sentence of up to five years may be slapped on them.
According to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, politicians and officials, including those from foreign countries, who favour ‘acts of vandalism through their action or inaction’ also may face criminal liability.
