Putin urged to speed up the adoption of the law on punishment for environmental harm

Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the Federal Assembly to speed up the adoption of a law on the financial liability of business owners for environmental damage.

“I ask you to speed up the adoption of the law, which will establish the financial responsibility of enterprise owners for the elimination of accumulated harm, for the reclamation of industrial sites. This approach is very simple, as it sounds: made a profit from nature – clean up after yourself.

Here you need to act tough. Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources

 (Rosprirodnadzor) and other supervisory bodies must carry out the tasks assigned to them, “Putin said at the announcement of the message to the Federal Assembly according RIA Novosti, April 21.

Putin ordered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Russia. According to him, the principle – the polluter pays – should fully work in the field of waste management.

The State Duma has prepared a draft on fines for cruelty to animals on Monday, 11th of May.

The heads of two State Duma committees, Vladimir Burmatov and Pavel Krasheninnikov, developed and sent to the government a draft law with amendments to the Administrative Code, involving fines of up to 200 thousand rubles for violating laws in the field of animal treatment.

Krasheninnikov recalled that now there are requirements in the field of protecting pets and ensuring the rights and legitimate interests of Russians when handling them.

“However, the administrative responsibility for violation of the provisions of this federal law has not been established at present,” he said.

The document proposes to provide for punishment for non-compliance with the conditions of keeping pets, for keeping and using animals prohibited for keeping, as well as for cruel treatment in the absence of signs of a criminal offense.

The State Duma end of April introduced a bill on the obligatory chipping of animals.

The bill also mentions new articles. For example, on non-compliance with the requirements for the use and maintenance of animals for cultural and entertainment purposes and on activities for the maintenance and use of animals in zoos, zoos, circuses, dolphinariums and other institutions without a license.

In addition, it is expected to punish for “non-compliance with the requirements for the implementation of activities for the treatment of animals without owners, animals from the ownership of which the owners have refused.”

Responsibility will depend on the severity of the act and on who committed it – ordinary citizens, officials or legal entities.

“The maximum fine for citizens is 50 thousand rubles, for legal entities – 200 thousand rubles,” the Committee on State Construction and Legislation said in a statement.

The powers to initiate and consider cases are proposed to be given to regional bodies of veterinary control, as well as Rosprirodnadzor and Rosselkhoznadzor.

According to Krasheninnikov, the bill will improve the efficiency of compliance with the requirements for keeping animals and will contribute to a more humane and responsible treatment of them.

The chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk, spoke in favor of the prohibition of hunting if it is carried out for the sake of entertainment.

“It seems to me that hunting as entertainment or a hobby should be banned altogether,” he said on the Russia 24 TV channel.

At the same time, the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church agreed that professional hunters should be allowed their activities, if it is necessary to reduce the population of certain animals. But according to him, this activity must be licensed. Last month the Russian vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 in animals “Karnivak-Kov” has appeared in civilian circulation.

“The first batch <…> in the amount of 17 thousand doses was produced in the FSBI Federal Center for Animal Health, subordinate to the Rosselkhoznadzor,” said Julia Melano, advisor to the head of the regulator.

She added that the released drug has already been booked and will soon arrive in Moscow, the Moscow region, Crimea, St. Petersburg, Vladimir, Kirov, Izhevsk, Irkutsk, Magnitogorsk, Novosibirsk, Ryazan, Chelyabinsk, Tver and Tolyatti.

Karnivak Cove is the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus in animals. The period of preservation of immunity after vaccination is estimated at six months. Earlier, the Rosselkhoznadzor indicated that, given the appropriate demand, production facilities would make it possible to create about ten thousand doses per day. Melano said today that you can count on three million servings a month, but in the long term the figure could rise to five million.