MOSCOW, January 31 (RAPSI) – Deputies representing A Just Russia political party in the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament have introduced a bill criminalizing threats to destroy property, the database of the State Duma reads on Wednesday.

The authors of the bill propose to add the respective article to the Russian Criminal Code, where the crime is to be defined as a threat to destroy property owned by other persons by arson, demolition, or by any other act injurious to the public in case there are grounds to apprehend the threat may be delivered on.

According to the document, the punishment for the crime is proposed to be a fine in the amount of up to 100,000 rubles ($ 1,770 at the current rate), compulsory community service for up to 240 hours, or remedial work for up to one year, or penal custody for up to six months.

The bill is aimed to mitigate social tensions caused by the activities of debt collectors using such threats to force debtors to repay the loans they have taken.

As the statistics presented in the bill show, at present the number of people with outstanding debts in Russia makes about 39 million, whereas the amount of such loans is registered at 10.1 trillion rubles.