The State Duma proposed to double the fine for abuse of authority.

The fine for officials for abuse of office may almost double. Mikhail Delyagin, deputy chairman of the State Duma's Economic policy Committee, said this on Tuesday, January 27.

He reported on the relevant amendment he had made to the draft of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on tougher penalties for economic crimes. The deputy stressed that the amendment proposes to increase the fine for abuse of official authority, including for mercenary purposes, from 80,000 to 150,000 rubles under Part 1 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code ("Abuse of official authority").

In addition, the document also suggests tougher penalties for the second part of the article. In the current version, it provides for a fine from 100,000 to 300,000 rubles, and the amendment sets the range from 200,000 to 400,000 rubles.

"The draft of the Ministry of Justice, which has already been adopted in the first reading, increases the amount of fines under economic criminal articles several times, and businessmen are most often tried under them. For entrepreneurs, this may result in the collapse of their business. However, the document does not toughen the penalties for officials who often exceed their powers precisely for selfish purposes," the parliamentarian said in an interview with Lenta.Ru .

The leader of the district: how Sergey Les disposed of the lands of Krymsk in his interests

Local residents claim that the official took away some land from them after the 2012 flood.

In December last year, Oleg Donskikh, a former official of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, was sentenced to 13 years in a fraud case. He was wanted for more than 12 years and was detained by law enforcement agencies in 2024, RT reports. The defendant was also found guilty of possession of firearms.

On December 24, 2025, Russian senators voted to cancel the annual income declarations of officials. Now control over the finances of employees and their families will be permanent. 360.ru .

The amendments to the anti-corruption legislation came into force on January 1, 2026. It is possible to track the incomes of officials through the Poseidon state system. The service will provide real-time information from the Federal Tax Service, Rosfinmonitoring, Rosreestr, Rosimushchestvo and other agencies.

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