Two bills on Russia's reaction to the aggressive actions of the United States and its allies were adopted in the first reading by the State Duma's parliamentarians on Tuesday, May 15. The initiative to provide the president and the government of the Russian Federation with broad powers to introduce reciprocal trade and economic restrictions against the United States and states that joined the anti-Russian sanctions were proposed on April 13 by Speaker of the lower house of parliament Vyacheslav Volodin and leaders of all parliamentary parties. By the first reading, the bill "On measures of influence (counteraction) to unfriendly actions of the United States and (or) other foreign states" was widely discussed with representatives of public organizations, business and expert community. As a result, it was decided to take into account about 80 amendments, in particular, to exclude from the text all references to specific types of products and industries that may be affected by the prohibition measures. On the eve of the discussion, Volodin reminded the deputies why this bill is needed: "It is extremely important to protect our economy so that national legislation is implemented in our country, since it is about unfriendly actions on the part of the United States and a number of other states, and the obvious need to resist this. For every enterprise, tens of thousands of people, their families. This is a matter of the security of our country, "the speaker said.. The second legislative initiative concerned punishment for the application of the norms of Western sanctions in the territory of Russia. On May 14, Chairmen of the upper and lower chambers of the parliament, Valentina Matvienko and Vyacheslav Volodin. "Sanctions, in fact, turned into an economic war against our country. And the one who acts like this, plays on the side of the enemy, that is, objectively speaking, changes his homeland. This we consider a criminal offense, "- commented on the initiative of the first deputy head of the faction" United Russia "Andrei Isaev. The document "On Amending the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation" proposes to provide a fine of up to 500 thousand.

or imprisonment for up to 3 years in respect of persons who promote the introduction of foreign sanctions against Russians and Russian companies. And for compliance with foreign sanctions - 4 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 600 thousand rubles. "Good should be with your fists," the parliamentarians agreed.. Both bills were adopted in the first reading unanimously. The second, basic, reading is scheduled for May 17. The third, the final, on May 22.