MOSCOW, April 9 - RAPSI. President Vladimir Putin has signed a law prohibiting the media from disclosing information which identifies children who are victims of a crime. The fines of up to 1 million rubles ($31,640) for violating this law have been approved, reads the document added to the database of laws and regulatory documents.

"The mass media and information and telecommunication networks are not allowed to publish information about underage citizens which can be used, directly or indirectly, to identify them, including names, photographs and videos of the victims and their legal representatives, their dates of birth, audio recordings of their voices, their permanent or temporary addresses, and their place of study or work," reads the briefing note.

The only exceptions are cases when this kind of information is published to protect the rights and legitimate interests of the victims. This, however, is only possible with the permission of a child aged above 14 and that of their legal representatives, or, in the case of younger children, just the permission of the child's legal representative.

Previously, the media were prohibited from publishing information that could be used, directly or indirectly, to identify underage victims. Now they will face administrative punishment for violating this rule. Fines have been approved at up to 5,000 rubles ($158) for individuals, up to 50,000 rubles ($1,580) for officials and from 400,000 to 1 million rubles ($12,650-$31,640) for organizations.