Symbolic protection: the law will prohibit the image of temples without crosses
A draft law on the so—called crucifixion has been prepared for the final readings in the State Duma. It will ban the image of churches without crosses, leaving only a few exceptions to this rule. In particular, the innovation will not affect film and photo newsreels, as well as cases where images of churches with crosses may lead to their desecration, for example, on floor mats or seats in public transport. The inter-factional bill, which is aimed at protecting religious symbols, appeared after complaints to deputies that the same Orthodox crosses were being "overwritten" in the media and advertising. How artistic techniques will be separated from insulting religious feelings in practice is described in the Izvestia article.
What has changed in the bill on the "crusade"
The deputies finalized a bill on the protection of religious symbols, the development of which was announced in May 2025 by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. At the time, he noted that the amendments had been prepared based on appeals from citizens who pointed out that religious symbols were being "blurred" or retouched in the media on posters, street posters, packages of goods, and "distorts their true meaning."
"Such facts cause outrage," the chairman of the State Duma noted at the time. — In this regard, we are preparing a legislative initiative aimed at protecting the main traditional faiths, on their mandatory use as an integral part of images of religious buildings.
Anna Kuznetsova, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, who presented the bill at the first reading on June 10, 2025, said that "the people" had already called the situation a "crusade."
"People were outraged and turned to us," she noted. — We worked with each request manually, contacting organizations and finding out why this was the case.
The amendment to the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" adopted in the first reading was quite brief — it forbade the use of images of religious buildings and other similar objects without proper symbols. It was about images in the media, on the Internet, when selling goods, performing works and services, in state and municipal symbols and signs, advertisements, signage and advertising.
By the second and third readings, the wording was significantly expanded. According to the amendments (Izvestia has them), a number of exceptions were introduced there.
Thus, religious objects without symbols, in particular temples without crosses, can be depicted "if historical images are reproduced indicating the appropriate time period" and provided that these symbols were absent from the structure at that time.
In addition, another exception is being made — in cases where "the reproduction of religious symbols entails their desecration."
How the amendments will work
The revised version extends legal protection to the symbols of those religions listed in the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" — Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism, Abbess Xenia (Chernega), head of the legal department of the Moscow Patriarchate, told Izvestia.
"Newsreels from the Soviet period showing churches without crosses will not be subject to the law, due to the fact that in this period of time there were no crosses on many desecrated and ruined churches," she noted.
Moreover, she confirmed, the amendments now allow for temples and other objects of religious worship to be depicted without religious symbols (crosses, crescents, etc.) if there is a risk of their desecration.
— For example, domes of churches with crosses should not be depicted on seats in vehicles, on floor carpets, — said Abbess Xenia.
The law is not retroactive, so if there is no cross in a film or in some creative work, "then the law cannot be applied to what has already happened," Yana Lantratova, chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Development of Civil Society, Public and Religious Associations, explained to Izvestia.
— And of course, it will not apply to artistic images. Like, for example, in the movie "Go and See" an entire village is burned down. It's clear that it's an artistic device, not a demonstration of illegal behavior," she said.
But she called for separating cases of "mashing" religious symbols from issues of insulting the feelings of believers.
"This is a completely different story: if a person buys a rug with an image of a temple, puts it down, starts trampling on it and does it in public with the aim of insulting religious feelings, then he will be charged with insulting religious feelings," she said. — And we advocate that the image of the temple should be with a cross, it is not necessary to erase them, as some do. As a result, we sometimes find on billboards and in textbooks some recognizable temple without the main religious symbol. This is, of course, a diversion.
What can be the punishment?
Further amendments to the Administrative Code are planned to establish responsibility for violations of these provisions, Abbess Xenia said.
As noted by the senior partner of the Pen Bar Association & Paper Konstantin Dobrynin, so far there is no responsibility for violating this prohibition.
"The documents submitted to the State Duma along with the draft law under consideration explicitly state that its adoption will not require changes or the adoption of other regulatory legal acts," he said.
The expert recalled that the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" provides for criminal, administrative and other liability for violations of the law.
148 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Violation of the right to freedom of conscience and religion") is a punishment for public acts committed with the aim of insulting religious feelings. And the article of the Administrative Code on violation of legislation on freedom of conscience and freedom of religion establishes a sanction for "deliberate public desecration of objects of religious worship." The Criminal Code provides for punishment up to three years in prison, and the Administrative Code provides for fines of up to 50,000 rubles for citizens and up to 1 million rubles for legal entities.
Therefore, according to Konstantin Dobrynin, the law on "krestopad" will need mirror changes to the Administrative Code and the Criminal Code.
Evgeniya Bezmalenko, a lawyer and mediator, member of the International Association of Lawyers and Mediators 4legal, noted: in order to avoid diverse interpretations of the new law by law enforcement agencies and courts, deputies should explicitly identify historical epochs — list the periods in which it was possible for religious objects to exist without crosses. She also noted that there is no official interpretation of the concept of "desecration" in the legislation, so the courts have to put forward a definition of this term every time.
According to Yevgenia Bezmalenko, cases of desecration may be considered those where images of religious buildings are used in areas "far from subjects of high morality" — these are both in everyday objects and in areas "associated with the so-called base, immoral human inclinations, condemned by society."
Artem Yablokov, a lawyer and partner at the Yablokov Brothers consulting company, suggested that the sanctions under the new amendments would be similar to the current ones or would directly relate to the current article of the Administrative Code on violations of the law on freedom of conscience. It completely "fits" the cases of modification of the appearance of temples.
— And here, of course, there is a question about the images generated by artificial intelligence. If they don't exist in reality, then their appearance may be the way the AI created it. This will probably be seen as a way out for market participants," he said.
Ilya Bachurin, producer and CEO of Mosconcert, noted that the development of a law that regulates the use of images of cult symbols is "very appropriate."
— It is precisely from some unregulated trifles that very large, complex conflict situations develop. And the trouble is that they don't add up on their own, but are put together by specially programmed people. The troubles with the depiction of Orthodox churches without crosses have caused not only fierce controversy in society, but also a kind of confrontation," he drew attention. — That's exactly what those who found this narrow gap and tried to just throw the maximum amount of discord into it were trying to achieve.
He noted that the multinational nature of Russia is at the same time the sum of the identities of individual peoples.
— This is a set of identities, including religious ones, belonging to the peoples of the Russian Federation, to every nation, no matter what religion they adhere to. Based on this, the law closes the gap that they may try to use to flare up a conflict," Ilya Bachurin said.
However, he noted that the main thing is the accuracy of the wording in the legislation, so that it is aimed not at punishing anyone, but at fulfilling "absolutely reasonable, reasonable requirements."
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