MOSCOW, November 15 - RAPSI. During its plenary meeting on Wednesday, Russia's Lower House of parliament, the State Duma adopted a bill on the bankruptcy of individuals in the first reading, the Prime business news agency reports.

During the discussion of the bill, State Duma chairman Sergei Naryshkin said that currently the total volume of debts owed by Russian citizens amounts to 7 billion rubles ($220.64 million).

"The process of bankruptcy of individuals, unlike legal entities, is not regulated by the law. This bill closes the gap in the law and substantially reduces the social tension in this regard, because often individuals who are not able to pay their debts find themselves in difficult situations and this pushes them to commit reckless actions," he said.

The bill states that a citizen who finds himself in financial difficulty can submit a bankruptcy statement to the court. The court may then grant the individual the right to pay the debt in installments for a term of up to five years.

An individual with debts exceeding 50,000 rubles ($1,576) and whose arrears amount to three months can be declared bankrupt. In this case, the individual cannot apply for a bank loan without citing his bankruptcy for the five years after his bankruptcy status was declared.

The bill also stipulates a ban on declaring oneself bankrupt more than once in five years.