The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Russia's parliament has passed against swearwords in public performances, despite a rich tradition of vulgar slang in Russian culture. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images  Russia's rich tradition of vulgar slang has long been a matter of pride for its authors and poets; Fyodor Dostoevsky once claimed a Russian could express his entire range of feelings with the swearword for the male sexual organ.  But a new ban on explicit language in public performances means that some of the country's best known directors, musicians and actors could face fines, and classic works of literature and cinema could be sold in special packaging with a warning sticker.  The lower house of parliament passed a law last week implementing banning "foul language" in public performances including movie showings, plays and concerts. Audio, video and books containing swearwords are required to be sold in special packaging featuring an explicit language warning.  The fines imposed by the legislation range from 2,500 roubles for ordinary citizens to 100,000 roubles for businesses. Repeat offences will lead to a suspension of up to one year for those who violate in an official capacity, or a 90-day cessation of activities for commercial enterprises.  Although Vladimir Putin must sign the law before it comes into effect, the president signed a similar law last year banning foul language in mass media.  Just as that law was criticised for lacking a clear definition of foul language, the new legislation on artistic works does not specify which words exactly are to be banned. Instead, it proposes that "words and phrases not meeting the norms of modern Russian literary language" be determined by an independent panel of experts. It's also not clear whether music and film that bleep out swearwords would fall under the ban.  This latest legislation would pose a difficulty for a wide number of authors, directors and performers. Leningrad, one of Russia's most popular bands, is famous for its vulgar lyrics, and even has an appropriately profanity-laced song that declares "it's impossible to live without swearing". Meanwhile, Russian blockbusters occasionally include blue dialogue, and several hit plays in recent years have featured prominent and creative use of swearwords.  Rock star Yuri Shevchuk, a Bono-like figure who challenged Putin on questions of free speech during a televised meeting with the president in 2010, warned that the legislation was part of a growing conservative trend in Russia, which he said could "devolve into a dark age". "I'm against bans. I'm against all government interference in art," Shevchuk said. "We have these bans within each of us, in our morality, what we can and can't allow ourselves. They're formed by upbringing and religion."  Media outlets have already faced prosecution under the foul language in mass media, and the information agency Rosbalt was briefly closed by a judicial decision after it posted two videos that included swearing.  The mass media law was widely condemned by journalists, and the legislation on artistic performances has already drawn the ire of cultural figures. Writer Sergei Shargunov called the law "sanctimonious" and pointed out that even classic Russian literature contains swearwords, including the works of great Russian poets. "So now let's ban Pushkin, Yesenin, Mayakovsky?" he asked.  Swearing also features in the works of famous novelists such as Alexandr Solzhenitsyn and Sergei Dovlatov. The beloved, satirical Soviet novel Moscow to the End of the Line, an alcohol-heavy adventure famous for its cocktail recipes featuring such ingredients as foot odour solution, varnish and insecticide, includes vulgar language such as variations on the word whore, one of Russian's most common swearwords. It has also been adapted for the stage.  Russian language has a long tradition of vulgar slang known as mat, which is based on a few swearwords that with the help of prefixes and suffixes can form any part of speech and express both positive and negative emotions.  In a 2003 New Yorker essay prompted by a previous parliamentary attempt to ban profanity, the author of Moscow to the End of the Line, Victor Erofeyev, explained how important mat is in Russian language and culture.  "Once only spoken on the street and in prisons, mat has made its way in to opera, literature, the internet, pop songs," he wrote. "Unlike indecent terminology in most languages, mat is multi-levelled, multifunctional, and extensively articulated – more a philosophy than a language."
Parliament's lower house passes law implementing ban and fines for foul language in theatres, music gigs and cinemas