Bridge.
Number of prisoners in Russia hits record low
Russia enjoys a record-low number of inmates, thanks to “humanization” of the penal code, deputy chief of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) has said, adding that the number of jailed people is expected to shrink further.
Over the past few years, the number of inmates in Russia has dropped by nearly 250,000, the FSIN deputy head, Valeriy Maksimenko, toldjournalists on Friday.
Currently, 467,000 people are serving jail terms, which is the lowest number in modern Russian history.
Apart from that, some 100,000 are in pre-trial and police custody, Maksimenko added. While the figure appears to be quite big, the number of such people actually shrank two-fold, compared to six years ago.
The decline in the number of the prisoners is the tangible result of “humanization” of Russian legislation, the official said. The number of inmates is expected to shrink further, as the authorities seek to put people behind bars only for capital offences, committed “against individual or state.”
A new law, signed by Vladimir Putin this summer, has also contributed to the reduction of inmate numbers, according to Maksimenko.
The legislation has set new rules for re-calculating time spent in pre-trial detention into jail days after sentencing. A day spent in pre-trial custody now counts as 1.5 days in jail for general security prisoners and as two days for low-security ones. For maximum and special-security prisoners, sentenced for serious and violent crimes, however, it goes day-for-day only. The new legislation has had a retroactive effect, and convicts had their jail time re-calculated according to the new rules.
https://www.rt.com/russia/446488-russia-prisoners-record-low/
Google may be blocked in Russia & country is ready to change laws to do it – watchdog
Russian legislation may be amended to allow harsher sanctions against foreign IT-companies, including blocking Google, that keep violating the country’s laws, Russia’s telecom watchdog Roskomnadzor warned.
Earlier this week, Google was fined 500,000 rubles ($7,500) for refusing to connect its search engine to the federal database of banned websites. The penalty almost feels like a mockery, considering that Alphabet holding company, which Google is part of, earned almost $110 billion last year.
“If fines won’t have any effect on the behavior of the foreign company, there’s a possibility that the legislation will be changed, which will allow blocking Goggle in Russia,” Vadim Subbotin, the deputy head of Roskomnadzor, said.
“Blocking will become the toughest possible measure,” but it would be justified, considering the content of the banned websites Google allows its users to browse freely, he said.
We’re talking about child pornography, suicides, drugs, gambling, alcohol sales. We’re talking about extremism and terrorism.
A new law was introduced in Russia this October that obliges all operators of search engines to exclude terrorist, extremist and other illegal websites from their search results.
To do so, they should link up with a database of around 120,000 banned URLs, compiled by the Russian authorities.
However, Google refuses to filter the illegal content, despite Roskomnadzor holding several meetings with the representatives of the US tech giant and explaining the legalities to them.
In September, the watchdog also threated to block Facebook in Russia as the company violated the bans on storing of Russian citizens’ personal data on servers located outside the country.
https://www.rt.com/russia/446278-google-blocking-russia-illegal-websites/
US lawmakers want to put a cork in Russia's gas pipeline to Europe
The US House of Representatives is once again calling on the European Union to ban the Russia-led construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and has called for sanctions against the project.
The resolution was passed by the Republican-led Congress during Monday's session. Echoing US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric against the construction of the undersea pipeline, the lawmakers called it “a drastic step backward for European energy security and United States interests.”The House now wants the US president to step in and even impose economic penalties under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Moscow has repeatedly stressed that all Washington’s attempts to hamper the project are simply driven by economic reasons and are a shining example of unfair competition. Reacting to the latest House motion, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there is nothing new in this“unacceptable” position. He added that the project is purely economic and serves not only Russia’s interests as a gas supplier, but Germany as an EU member-country and its consumers in the first place.
The $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline is set to deliver Russian natural gas to European consumers. The pipeline is set to run from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea and is expected to double the existing pipeline’s capacity to 110 billion cubic meters. The pipeline, controlled by a subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom, is being built in cooperation with German energy firms Wintershall and Uniper, French multinational Engie, Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, as well as Austria’s OMV.
Europe seems to be reluctant to ditch the project despite US pressure and criticism. On Monday, Austria's OMV energy group CEO Rayner Zele stated that the company is set to continue financing the pipeline next year. OMV has already invested some 531 million euros ($607 million) into the project, Zele told Ria Novosti.
In early December, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also said that Berlin’s abandoning the project would not make sense as Russia will still go on with it. Germany earlier rebuked Trump’s criticism of the project after the US leader accused Berlin of being a “captive” of Moscow citing Germany’s alleged dependency on natural gas from Russia.
https://www.rt.com/business/446271-us-nord-stream-sanctions/
Russia is killing it in economics too. Dropping the dollar. As with many countries.
:)
Russia sets standards for organic food production
President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law regulating production, storing and transportation of organic produce in Russia. The decree bans agrochemicals, pesticides, antibiotics growth stimulators and hormones.
The new law, previously approved by both chambers of the Russian Parliament, will enter force on January 1, 2020. The regulation introduces references to “organic produce,”“manufacturer of organic produce” and “organic agriculture,” as well as sets control over producing, storing, labeling, selling and transporting goods of the kind.
https://www.rt.com/business/435219-putin-organic-produce-regulation/
They get it.