MOSCOW, June 3 (RAPSI) – Anton Belyakov, a member of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, stands for harsher punishment for sex trade, managing brothels and advertising sexual services.

He submitted a bill to this effect to the lower house, the State Duma, on Tuesday. Belyakov told journalists that those who are involved in prostitution and receive monetary gain from it can be tried under either the criminal or administrative offences codes.

“This ambiguity allows law enforcement agencies to qualify pimping not as a crime but as an administrative offence that is punishable with a fine of only 2,500 rubles (barely $70),” he said.

The bill he submitted to parliament proposes that pimps be tried exclusively under criminal law, with prison sentences of up to 10 years. Belyakov believes that this could help destroy the business “from within.” He has provided Interior Ministry data that says about one million people were involved in prostitution in 2013.

Belyakov also claimed that law enforcement’s actions against those involved in pandering have been “unsystematic and inconsistent.” He blamed this on inadequate legislation, which gives law enforcement the right to choose between a fine and criminal charges and therefore creates “a big loophole for corruption.”