Drunk driving, along with speeding and unsafe roads, is one of the main causes of fatal traffic accidents in Russia.
"I think the State Duma will consider these proposals next week," Vladimir Fyodorov, a former head of Russia's traffic police and a member of the Federation Council, parliament's upper house, told journalists.
The alcohol problem was highlighted in mid-October, when a drunk driver plowed at high speed into a group of paratroopers in the Central Russian city of Ryazan, killing six of them and injuring 19.
Fyodorov said that currently there is no official blood alcohol content limit; traffic police make a judgment on whether a driver is sober or intoxicated. If confirmed drunk by a doctor, drivers face withdrawal of their licenses for 1.5-2 years.
The senator said the blood alcohol limit is the only international norm still not included in Russia's traffic rules, although the Soviet Union signed the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic, which envisions introducing this limit.
The proposals were introduced by a group of lawmakers led by Vladimir Pligin, the head of the State Duma committee on legislation and constitutional development.
On Thursday, the lower house of parliament's security committee recommended that lawmakers adopt in a first reading a bill toughening penalties for violating traffic rules.
The draft law envisions, in particular, raising the minimum fine six-fold from 50 rubles ($1.9) to 300 rubles ($11.42), raising all other fines by several times, detaining drunk drivers for up to 15 days, and suspending licenses for drivers caught passing through red traffic lights.
Transportation Minister Igor Levitin said in October that about 10,000 people in Russia die and 70,000 are injured in traffic accidents every year.
