Main approaches to differentiating criminal liability for offences resulting from the dissemination of defamatory fabrications

The paper deals with the differentiation of criminal liability for crimes under articles 128.1, 298.1 and 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The main approaches to the concept of differentiation of criminal responsibility and the means of differentiation used by the legislator are considered. The main problems related to the implementation of this method of criminallaw policy in relation to the group of crimes in question are highlighted. It was concluded that the general term “fabrications” could be used instead of the concept of “knowingly false information”. A proposal was made to amend and supplement the provisions of the articles under consideration by adjusting the basic composition of libel, revising the role of qualifying features based on their real public danger. Ways have been identified to optimize existing approaches to the differentiation of criminal responsibility for crimes expressed in the dissemination of defamatory fabrications.