MOSCOW, September 18 (RAPSI) – A bill increasing fines for unauthorized disclosure of classified information including personal data of law enforcement officials tenfold has been submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament.

According to an explanatory note to the initiative, cases of illegal disclosure of confidential information by citizens and official having access to it due to their job have recently increased on the Internet.

Currently, such offenses are punishable by fines from 500 to 1,000 rubles ($7 - 13) for citizens and from 4,000 to 5,000 rubles ($50 - 67) for officials. Such sanctions do not have a preventive effect, the bill’s sponsors believe.

The draft law’s authors state that illegal information disclosure and its publishing on the Internet deal a serious blow to rights of people and state.

The legislative proposal envisages fines for up to 10,000 rubles ($130) for citizens and up tp 50,000 rubles ($670) for officials.