MOSCOW, March 14 - RAPSI. On Wednesday the State Duma adopted a bill on tougher punishment for drunk driving on its first hearing. The bill, which was submitted by a group of MPs, stipulates tougher punishment for repeat offenders and for drunk drivers who have been stripped of their licenses.

The fine is set at 200,000 rubles ($6,510) or a sum equal to the offender's annual income. The proposed alternatives are up to 480 hours of compulsory community service, up to two years of compulsory service, or six months in prison.

The bill provides for amending the Criminal Code to sentence drunk drivers to two-seven years in prison for killing a person. The current provision only sets the maximum punishment (seven years), but not the minimum.

Punishment stipulated for drunk drivers who kill two or more people should be four to nine years, whereas the current provision only sets the upper limit, nine years.
In all these cases, drunk drivers will lose their licenses for up to three years.

The bill does not stipulate compulsory service for drunk driving accidents in which people are killed.

According to the bill, the Code of Administrative Offences should be amended to stipulate a fine of 10,000 to 50,000 rubles ($325-$1,630) for drunk driving and the revocation of the driver's license for 18 to 24 months.

During a meeting on traffic safety in October 2012, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that alcohol intoxication should be a condition which aggravates criminal and administrative liability for traffic accidents.

The need to toughen the punishment for drunk driving arose after an inebriated driver rammed into a bus stop in Moscow, killing seven people, including five orphans and their minders.