According to the authors of the initiative, First Deputy Speaker of the Russian upper chamber Andrei Turchak and the deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Civil Society Development Olga Zanko, the St. George's ribbon will become the official symbol of Russian military glory, thus it can only be used for purposes related to historical memory, the use of the ribbon for other purposes will be suppressed by law.
Under the current Russian law, a legal entity or a group of people could face a fine from 2 to 5 million rubles ($29,000 - $72,448) or imprisonment for up to five years for public desecration of a symbol of military glory, while an individual could face a maximum fine of up to 3 million rubles or imprisonment for up to three years.
The St. George ribbon, which consists of three black and two orange stripes, is an integral part of many military awards of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. At the beginning of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the symbol was used by militia fighters and volunteers who fought on the side of the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk against the Ukrainian forces.