OREANDA-NEWS. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) ordered to remove an image that insults the state symbols of Russia from Instagram social network. “The picture contains an image of indecent actions with the national flag of the Russian Federation,” the Roskomnadzor’s representatives explain.

The attention of the service to the photo was attracted by the Prosecutor General’s Office, which on July 16 sent a request to Roskomnadzor to restrict access to an offensive picture. The supervisor sent Instagram a notice on the inclusion of a web page in a register of prohibited information.

A day earlier, Roskomnadzor, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, sent a similar request to the social network Facebook. The image that caused the claims of the department contained “an obscene interpretation of the name of our country and a swastika image against the background of the State Emblem of the Russian Federation.”

The laws on liability for insulting the authorities and state symbols was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 18. The amendments entered into force on March 29. The law expands the list of information to which access can be restricted if this is requested by the Attorney General or his deputies. If such information is found, the resource owners are given a day after receiving the notification to delete it; otherwise, the resource can be locked. There are sanctions for violation of the prohibitions: the fines from 30 thousand roubles (about 475 dollars) to 300 thousand roubles, and the arrest for up to 15 days in the case of a repeated violation.