RFE/RL: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill into law imposing penalties for disclosing the personal data of security officials or their relatives, a move that could further hamstring efforts to expose corruption or hold Russian officials accountable. Punishments for offenders include jail sentences, house arrest, forced labor, and fines of up to 18 months’ salary. The law could discourage the kind of exposés that jailed anti-corruption lawyer Aleksei Navalny and other Kremlin critics have published, highlighting dodgy properties linked to senior officials like Putin and ex-President Dmitry Medvedev.
RFE/RL: The Russian Ministry of Culture has refused to issue a distribution license for Romanian director Radu Jude’s film Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, which won the prestigious Golden Bear award for best film at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, known as the Berlinale. The ministry said on June 11 that the movie violates Russia’s laws on pornography.
