MOSCOW, May 5 (RAPSI) – President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill which toughens the punishment for making false reports of terrorist attacks into law. A crime of this kind which causes significant damage may be punishable by up to five years in prison.

The document has been posted on the government website of legal information.

The bill extends Article 207 of the Criminal Code by an extra paragraph that stipulates cases where the crime “causes considerable damage or other severe consequences.”

If proved, the crime may be punishable by a fine of up to 500,000 rubles ($13,997), the offender’s salary or other income over a period ranging from 18 months to three years, or a prison sentence of up to five years.

Considerable damage is qualified as damage of over 1 million rubles ($27,993).

Currently, making a false report of a terrorist attack or arson is punishable by a fine of up to 200,000 rubles ($5,600) or the offender’s salary or other income over an 18 month period. The maximum prison term for the crime is three years.

The explanatory note to the legislation specifies that it was drafted due to an average 15% increase in the number of false reports over the past five years. Some 1,583 anonymous calls reporting false terrorist threats were registered in 2009; 1,864 were registered in 2010; 2,279 in 2011; 2,672 in 2012 and 2,679 in 2013 (as of November 30, 2013).