The updated law introduces the concept of "terrorist propaganda" to Russia's criminal code and stipulates harsher penalties for sponsoring and recruiting terrorists or anyone whose actions fall under terror-related articles of the code, including articles 205 (terrorist act), 205.3 (terrorist training), 205.4 (setting up a terror cell), 205.5 (running a terror cell), parts of article 206 (taking hostages) and parts of article 211 (hijacking vehicles to commit a terrorist attack).
Those found guilty of terrorist propaganda will face fines of between 100,000 and 500,000 rubles ($1,800-$8,600) or two to five-year jail terms. Using the internet for spreading propaganda will aggravate this to up to seven years in jail.
Those found guilty of the crime of sponsoring or recruiting terrorists will face prison sentences of between eight and 20 years and fines of between 300,000 to 700,000 rubles ($5,200 to $12,160) or a life sentence. The current prison terms are between five and 10 years.
The crime would be aggravated if committed with the abuse of authority, with jail terms between 10 and 20 years instead of the current eight and 15 years.
The move comes in a wake of a blast that took place at a branch of the Perekrestok supermarket chain in St. Petersburg. President Vladimir Putin has described the incident as a terrorist attack, while investigators said they were looking into every theory of the incident.