Putin toughens penalties for illegal alcohol circulation

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill toughening penalties for illegal production and sale of alcohol and alcohol-containing products into law, RAPSI reports.

Production and sale of alcohol on a large scale without proper license would be punished with fines of up to 3 million rubles (about $50,500), community service or prison sentence of up to 3 years.

The crime committed by an organized group or on especially large scale may result in a 4-million-ruble (about $67,300) fine and 5 years of imprisonment or community service. Large scale is defined as goods valued at more than 300,000 rubles ($5,000) and especially large scale as one exceeding 1 million rubles (about $17,000).

According to the law, penalties for production and sale of counterfeit excise stamps, special brands or marks also get considerably tightened. A person may be sentenced to up to 8 years or fined up to 700,000 rubles (about $12,000). If this crime damages the state or is perpetrated on especially large-scale fines may reach as high as 1 million rubles and sentence may be increased up to 12 years.