Pretty harsh sentence for simply trading bitcoin. Russia really is a totalitarian country.
"Recent reports that Russia’s Ministry of Finance is taking a hard stance against the use of bitcoin inside the federation, by making a harsh proposal, meant to punish bitcoin users and the so-called ‘traffickers’.
According to sources in Russia, until now, their Ministry of Finance had supported fines of around 500,000 rubles, or 1-2 years of community service, but the change in their stance might have something to do with the rising popularity of the cryptocurrency, as they’re now militating for a prison sentence of 4 years, for those caught using bitcoin.
What’s surprising is that regardless of the fact that a big percentage of the population which has heard about the digital currency, the Russian government will reportedly go ahead and concretize the proposal. In fact, the Ministry that came up with the idea, is also supported by the ministry of Economic Development in Russia, as related by Vesti, a Russian publication."
Read More:
http://themerkle.com/news/russian-ministry-wants-to-punish-bitcoin-users-with-prison/
