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The Union of Armenians of Russia supports the bill on criminal liability for the denial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and asks Speaker of the State Duma and the leaders of the four factions of the State Duma to support the document’s adoption.

On November 25 the leader of ‘Just Russia’ faction Sergey Mironov and Vice Speaker of the State Duma Nikolai Levichev introduced in the lower chamber of the Russian parliament a bill envisaging responsibility for denial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Russian media reported that by the bill, a fine of up to 300,000 rubles or a fine in the amount of 2 years’ wage or imprisonment of up to 3 years shall be imposed for the denial of the Armenian Genocide and the approval of those crimes. Moreover, if this is done through the use of the mass media, the upper limit of the fine shall be raised to 500,000 drams or imprisonment extended for up to 5 years.

“The Union of Armenians of Russia fully supports the adoption of the bill and considers it necessary in terms of strengthening the security of the Russian Federation and urges you … to endorse that important legislative initiative,” President of UAR Ara Abrahamyan said in an address quoted by RIA Novosti.

“The adoption of such a law will create a serious and systemic mechanism in Russia for combating the falsification and distortion of historical facts of the Armenian Genocide, media misinformation, bribery of reporters, bloggers, various ‘experts’ and state servants, which will make it impossible to mislead Russian citizens and desecrate the memory of the perished people as well as to set up a real basis for the prevention of such actions of the Turkish government,” Abrahamyan said.

He expressed gratitude to Russia for its consistent and objective position on the condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.