MOSCOW, July 10 (RAPSI) - The advertising of sex services disguised as personal ads in the media may be outlawed this fall, Izvestia reports  on Friday citing Deputy Speaker Sergei Zheleznyak.

Zheleznyak said that the State Duma is currently discussing a bill to this effect. “There is a high chance that the bill will be up for a vote at the beginning of the parliament’s fall session.”

The deputy speaker added that the bill had passed the first reading by the lower house of parliament. Before the second reading, parliament members will discuss practical measures to prohibit the use of mass media to advertise sex services disguised as leisure or personal ads.

According to Zheleznyak, the bill will eliminate a loophole for prostitution businesses that offer their services through massage, sauna, dating clubs and similar ads.

Previously, Dmitry Zyablitsev, owner of Flirt magazine, was arrested for advertising prostitution along with his wife and editor-in-chief and some 30 other defendants in the case. The arrests evoked a wide public response. The defendants denied the allegations but are facing long prison terms.

The magazine, full of photos of half-naked women offering a more intimate meeting, has been distributed for free in central Moscow streets and near metro exits for several years. In June 2013, the police and the Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection started a probe into the alleged advertising of prostitution in the magazine. However, it did not prevent the magazine from being circulated until now. The Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection announced that it would file a lawsuit to shut down the current version of the magazine.