Heavy fines await “foul-mouthed” reporters, writers and artists in Russia, after the signing of a new censorship law by Vladimir Putin that will come into effect from 1 July 2014. The President of Russia prohibits obscenity in plays and movies, on TV, in song recordings and live performances as well as in books. As for the CDs and DVDs containing explicit language, the new law stipulates that they will have to carry warnings of “inappropriate content” on the cover.
Offenders will face fines of up to 1,400 dollars for organizations and $70 for individuals. Repeated offences may lead to a 90-day cessation of activities for commercial enterprises.
Many artists have openly expressed their disapproval for the new law, including famous author Irvin Welsh: ” It seems to be an attempt to erase and/or marginalise certain cultures, ie the working class, the ghetto, and so on. Language is a living, organic thing. If you start to try to control that and prescribe what people say, the next thing is prescribing what people think,” he said to The Guardian.