MOSCOW, October 24 - RAPSI. The State Duma has approved a bill in its first reading which toughens the criminal and administrative liability for inducing children and teenagers to drink alcoholic beverages.

The bill also increases the fines for violating the rules for selling alcohol to minors by several times.

When submitting the bill, State Secretary and Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov said that the draft law proposes to amend Article 151 of the Criminal Code, which imposes the liability for inducing the under-aged to drink alcoholic products regularly, including beer and beer-based drinks. The bill proposes to punish these kinds of violations by two to six years imprisonment.

The fine for selling alcohol to minors will be increased to 15,000 rubles ($478) from 5,000 rubles ($159) for officials and to 300,000 rubles ($9,560) from 50,000 rubles ($1,593) for legal entities.

It has also been proposed to increase fines for drinking alcohol beverages or being drunk in public places to 1,500 rubles ($47.8).