Users of social networks are spreading information that from the new year Russians will begin to be fined for using cesspools. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.

According to messages published by Internet users, on January 1, 2022, a “decree of the Federal Service for Environmental Supervision” will come into effect that “all homeowners must get rid of cesspools and replace them with modern bathrooms.” The agency allegedly explains its decision by saying that in this way “Russia will be able to reduce the amount of emissions into the atmosphere and fulfill its international obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.” Failure to comply with the resolution, judging by these reports, threatens with large fines, however, to eliminate cesspools on their own plots, citizens can use maternity capital funds or subsequently claim a tax deduction. Full of indignation, publications about the “new law” appeared in Facebook, Twitter, "VKontakte", Pikabu, on the legal forum 9111.ru and other platforms.

Well, we’ve reached the toilets! From January 1, Russians will be banned from using cesspools
According to the decree of the Federal Service for Environmental Supervision, from January 1, 2022, all homeowners must get rid of cesspools and replace them with modern bathrooms. pic.twitter.com/LSwM3Y8oFX
— NINA (@NINa25596373) December 5, 2021

There is no such agency as the Federal Service for Environmental Supervision in Russia. Perhaps the authors of the publications are referring to the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision, also known as Rostechnadzor. On the department's website we failed find information about the adoption of such a resolution. Failed search on the “Official Internet portal of legal information” was also successful.

The primary source of the news about the strange initiative was a note on the website of the Panorama news agency, published November 4, 2021. It contains all the details that social network users later began to retell. An important clarification in the text of the article, which many of them did not mention in their own texts, reads: “All texts on this site are grotesque parodies of reality and are not real news.”

“Panorama” is one of the most famous websites with comic news in Russia. Disclaimers under each article, as well as the words “satirical publication” on the portal’s logo, often go unheeded, and fictitious news begins to appear in other sources under the guise of real news. For example, this is how publications became popular that the Pope promised €200 to all Russians who celebrate Christmas on December 25, or adopted in the United States, the decision to recognize an American as the first man in space. Dean of the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University Andrei Sidorov even retold one of the Panorama news broadcasts on the Rossiya 1 channel.