MOSCOW, February 17 (RAPSI) – The Federation Council, the upper house of Russian parliament, has approved a bill on criminal punishment for online inducement to the drug use and tougher sanctions for the fatal drug propaganda.

Previously the document was adopted by the lower house of parliament, the State Duma.

Numerous publications promoting unlawful actions in support of liberalization of Russia’s antidrug laws, among them those where participants could get seeds of drug-producing plants, persuaded us that this bill was needed to be developed, Committee Chair and an author of the document Vasily Piskarev said earlier.

The initiative introduces a separate provision criminalizing inducement to use drugs, psychoactive substance, or similar products via the internet in the respective article of Russia’s Criminal Code.

The bill envisages prison terms from 12 to 15 years in case such actions resulted in the deaths of the victims or other serious consequences.