Russia raises protest fines above annual wage

Russia's parliament today hiked fines for unsanctioned protests to more than three times the annual wage after a march on the eve of Vladimir Putin's historic inauguration ended in battles with police.

But the ruling party United Russia needed almost every one of its votes to pass the measure with 236 votes to 207. Opposition parties voted against it and protesters tried to picket the building before being dispersed.

Police reported detaining at least five people.

"Using the May 6 and 7 protests as an excuse, United Russia is attacking the last of our more or less functioning democratic rights," Communist Party lawmaker Vadim Solovyov said.

The legislation passed in the initial reading hikes the maximum penalty for those who join illegal actions to one million rubles ($32,100) from 5,000 ($160) today.

The penalty is about 3.5 times the average annual salary reported by the Rosstat statistics agency at the end of last year.

Russia's laws on protests are both strict by Western standards and at times randomly enforced.

No public actions are allowed without city consent and functions that grow larger than the number originally declared to the authorities get penalised.

But opposition leaders often complain that these rules rarely apply to the huge functions that close down entire streets in Moscow staged by pro-Kremlin youth groups.

The vote in parliament had been delayed from Friday after Communist Party lawmakers and their socialist allies threatened to stage an embarrassing walkout during the vote.

The measure passed  after some ruling party members promised to substantially lower the maximum final level in the second reading.