The Russian regime decided to further expand its surveillance apparatus and this month passed a package of rules that obliges citizens to report contacts with foreigners, in addition to authorizing new restrictions on digital platforms such as Telegram.
The measures were approved by the Russian Parliament, controlled by the Kremlin, and are part of a broader strategy to control communications and the flow of information in the country under Putin’s regime.
According to the newspaper The Moscow Timesthe new legal package expands the obligation for Russian citizens to report ties and contacts abroad and occurs in parallel with the increase in restrictions imposed by the regulatory body Roskomnadzor on Telegram. According to Roskomnadzor, the platform – currently used by thousands of people around the world – would not be adopting effective measures to combat “fraud” nor to adequately protect the personal data of Russian users.
The tightening takes place in a broader context of legal changes. According to UK intelligence, Russia came forward in January with new legislative amendments that expand the powers of the federal security service, the FSB, to suspend mobile internet, telephony and other means of communication throughout the national territory, without the need for a court order, in cases of vaguely defined threats. The new legal framework reinforces the Kremlin’s state control over internal communications, intensified since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022.
