10:40 29.03.2022

MPs propose imprisoning for up to 5 years for using symbols of support for Russia's attack on Ukraine

2 min read
MPs propose imprisoning for up to 5 years for using symbols of support for Russia's attack on Ukraine

A group of MPs proposes to the Verkhovna Rada to introduce criminal liability for the use of symbols of support for the attack of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine.

The corresponding draft law No. 7220 on amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine and other legislative acts was registered in Parliament on March 28.

"Given that the current Russian regime and full-scale military aggression against Ukraine have many totalitarian features, we consider it critical to ban any use and propaganda of symbols of support for the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine," the explanatory note says.

According to the draft law, such symbols include flags, symbols, images, paraphernalia, monuments, commemorative signs, inscriptions that depict the symbols placed on the military equipment of the Russian Federation during the military aggression against Ukraine.

Thus, the occupier’s military equipment on the territory of Ukraine was marked with the letters Z, V and O, and since March 3, the accounts of the Russian Ministry of Defense began to use stylizations and graphic interpretations of the letters Z and V in social networks in communications on Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, and subsequently the symbolism began be distributed in propaganda materials, rallies and other public events.

The bill proposes to amend the Criminal Code of Ukraine and establish criminal liability in the form of restriction of liberty for up to five years or imprisonment for the same period (with or without confiscation of property) for the manufacture, distribution, and public use of symbols of support for the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

At the same time, the authors of the legislative initiative believe that the ban on the production of this symbolism should not be extended if it is further used in museum expositions, thematic exhibitions, the Museum Fund of Ukraine, as well as in library funds on various media, in the process of scientific activity, in including during scientific research, on the originals of combat banners, during the reconstruction of historical events, in private collections and archival collections.

In addition, the ban will not apply to cases of using this symbolism in scientific, educational materials and works of art, provided that this does not lead to propaganda of Russian military aggression against Ukraine.

Among the co-authors of the bill, in particular, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, Oleksandr Bakumov, Yulia Klymenko, Sofia Fedyna, Inna Sovsun, Vasyl Mokan, Roman Lozynsky.

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