Vyacheslav Novikov, Vice Chairman of Federation Council Budget Committee

– Any attempts to spread allegations about radiation accidents must be prevented most seriously

A group of senators of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia led by the chairman of the Sub-Committee on Nuclear Energy of the Committee on Natural Monopolies Grigory Naginsky suggests drafting an amendment to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation envisaging criminal responsibility for spreading of allegations about serious emergencies and accidents.

My attitude to this initiative is positive. I think that it is high time to do it. Today, we already have an article envisaging criminal responsibility for allegations about acts of terrorism and it appears to be quite effective. I think that speculations on radiation safety are a very serious problem. Radiophobia is still existent in our country and some people respond to such rumors even more painfully than they would respond to an act of terrorism. In fact, lots of people are still unaware of what exactly radiation is and are afraid of it. So, I think that any attempts to spread allegations about radiation accidents must be prevented most seriously and punished criminally.

One of the key motives for such attacks is competition. Today we live in a competitive world and sometimes rivals prefer using unfair practices against each other. Hardly any journalist would spread such allegations on his own as this might damage his reputation. So, these rumors might well come from rivals.

I don’t think that it will be hard to draft the amendment as we already have a precedent: we have already drafted and adopted an amendment envisaging criminal responsibility for alleging acts of terrorism. As soon as ready the amendment will be sent to the State Duma. We hope that our colleagues will support our initiative.