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The State Duma has passed, in the third and final reading, a bill introducing fines for searching for extremist materials online, advertising VPN services, passing on SIM cards or internet accounts, and other new offences, according to a broadcast on the website of the lower house of parliament.
The law was passed with 306 deputies voting in favour, 67 against, and 22 abstentions.
The bill introduces administrative fines including for:
- searching for extremist materials on the internet;
- advertising VPN services;
- passing a SIM card or internet account to another person;
- VPN service owners refusing to comply with Roskomnadzor’s requirements to restrict access to sites listed in the registry of banned pages;
- violating the rules for interaction with state bodies and security agencies, and disclosing information about such interactions by telecom operators, internet service administrators, or hosting providers.
Intentional searching for extremist materials will incur a fine of 3,000 to 5,000 rubles (about US$33–55). Advertising VPN services and refusal by their owners to comply with Roskomnadzor may bring fines for individuals from 50,000 to 80,000 rubles (about US$550–880), for officials from 80,000 to 150,000 rubles (about US$880–1,650), and for legal entities from 200,000 to 500,000 rubles (about US$2,200–5,500).
Passing a SIM card or internet account may result in a fine of 30,000 to 50,000 rubles (about US$330–550) for individuals, 50,000 to 100,000 rubles (about US$550–1,100) for sole proprietors, and 100,000 to 200,000 rubles (about US$1,100–2,200) for legal entities.
The amendments specify that the free, short-term transfer of a SIM card for personal use will not be considered an offence. Passing on your account login and password to another person is allowed “for the lawful use of the information resource’s functions on behalf of, or with the consent of, the internet user.”
All these amendments will come into force on 1 September 2025 if the bill is signed by the president.
The original document only proposed changes to the Code of Administrative Offences regarding forwarding activities. It remained in the State Duma for six months without progress, but in July, deputies proposed amendments addressing completely different issues.
Earlier today outside the State Duma, activist Dmitry Kisiev, who was holding a solo demonstration against fines for searching for extremist materials, was detained along with journalists covering the protest.
The bill has been criticised by, among others, the head of the ‘Safe Internet League’ Yekaterina Mizulina and Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the pro-Kremlin TV channel RT, who were unhappy that it could hinder their ability to file reports. Today, before the Duma session, Mizulina again spoke out against the initiative: “The new law is de facto the first attempt at state-level tracking of Russian citizens’ ‘digital footprint.’ <…> Arbitrary enforcement could affect anyone, including the deputies themselves, as well as their wives and children, who love to share details of their lives on certain extremist social media platforms.”
On 25 July, the Federation Council also approved the law, reports TASS.
OVD-Info has prepared an analysis of which materials might lead to prosecution under these proposals and how you can protect yourself.