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Russia's parliament will debate a legal amendment giving courts the power to close media outlets for printing libel.
A newspaper that reported President Vladimir Putin was divorcing his wife and planned to marry a 24-year-old Olympic gymnast was closed by its publisher last week. Putin said there was no truth in the report.
Rights activists say press freedom has been stifled during Putin's eight-year presidency as part of a Kremlin drive to consolidate control over the economy and political life. The Kremlin says Russia's media have never been more free.
The amendment to Russia's media law was put forward by a lawmaker with Putin's United Russia party, which has a huge majority in the State Duma lower house of parliament. Lawmakers are to debate it in the first of three readings on Friday.
If passed, the amendment will add the printing of "deliberately false information, defaming the honour and dignity of another person, or damaging his reputation" to the list of offences for which a media outlet can be closed down.
At present, media can be shut only for publishing state secrets, extremist statements, calls to carry out terrorist acts or statements justifying terrorism.
"What we would like is that if some publication or media outlet is often taken to court for libel, that through the courts the publication should be warned," Robert Shlegel, the author of the amendment, said.
"If it does not react to that warning, the court can issue another warning and then, again by decision of a court, it can be closed down and that all should take place within a period of 12 months."
"(The amendment) will in my view have the effect of making the media sector in Russia more civilised," he said.
Executives at the Moskovsky Korrespondent paper, which printed the report on Putin's private life, said they were suspending publication for commercial reasons, not because of any pressure from the Kremlin.
Shlegel denied his proposal was connected in any way to that case. He said he had been working on the amendment long before the article on Putin appeared.
Oleg Panfilov, director of media freedom lobby group the Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations, said Shlegel's amendment was designed to stop the media publishing reports that could embarrass the authorities.
"I can only assume that this is a stupid idea that entered the head of the lawmaker in order to strengthen state propaganda," he said.
"It will be a violation ... of all the international documents (on civil rights) that Russia has either signed or ratified," Panfilov said.
