MOSCOW, October 15 (RAPSI) — The draft law introducing fines to be paid by persons abandoning their pets, which had been developed by political party United Russia, was supported by the Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environment Protection of the lower house of the Russian parliament. 

The respective amendments are to be introduced in the Code of Administrative Offenses, according to the Committee’s First Deputy Chair Vladimir Burmatov.

The document introduces administrative responsibility for abandoning pets, the respective fines are to amount up to 30,000 rubles ($420 at the current exchange rate). The proposed amendments also set fines of up to 50,000 rubles ($700) for violating the rules of keeping animals in municipal shelters, up to 100,000 rubles ($1,500) for cruel treatment of animals not amounting to a crime, and up to 150,000 rubles ($2,100) for keeping and using animals put on the list of animals prohibited for keeping.