Legislation & regulation

Russian central bank to seek ban on investment in cryptocurrencies

December 19, 2021

The Russian central bank wants to ban investments in cryptocurrencies in Russia, seeing risks to financial stability in the rising number of crypto transactions, two financial market sources close to the bank said. Russia has argued for years against cryptocurrencies, saying they could be used in money laundering or to finance terrorism. It eventually gave …

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Now a top global crypto mining location, Russia considers introducing higher energy tariffs

October 19, 2021

Russia has become one of the world’s top three locations for bitcoin mining activity, following China’s crackdown on crypto earlier this year.  In August 2021, according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index,  bitcoin miners in Russia accounted for 13.6% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution, bested by only the United States (26.2%) and Kazakhstan (21.9%). Energy consumption has grown …

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Facebook and Google exposed to record fines for not removing unlawful content in Russia

October 11, 2021

Russia could impose record fines on Facebook and Google (held responsible for YouTube) for not removing prohibited content. Since these companies are accused of repeated violations, fines could be in the range of 1/20 to 1/10 of the yearly revenues they generate in Russia. Thus Facebook, which makes around 10 billion rubles per year in the …

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Russia mandates social networks to “self-control” unlawful content

September 25, 2021

This past Wednesday Roskomnadzor, Russia’s telecom and Internet regulator, announced the launch of a registry of major domestic and foreign social networks. The regulator cites amendments to the Russian legislation on information and information technologies which came in force on Feb. 1, 2021. Establishing the “self-control” of social networks, these new rules mandate them to …

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Russia tightens control over foreign large-traffic sites and apps

September 23, 2021

A new law regulating the activity of foreign digital companies in Russia, adopted in early July, is already coming into force, as witnessed by several new orders issued last week by Roskomnadzor, the Internet and telecom regulator. Owners of websites, information systems, or electronic programs that generate a daily traffic of 500,000 users from Russia or more are required to open a …

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Russia to grant toll-free status to electric cars from 2022

September 14, 2021

Russian electric car drivers will be able to access toll roads at no cost starting from 2022 in a new trial experiment, the RBC news website reported Monday, citing a recently published draft government plan. The initiative, part of the new Development Concept for the Production and Use of Electric Automobile Transport signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on …

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Russia’s prosecutor writes to Apple and Google CEOs, foreign affairs ministry summons US ambassador over “election interference”

September 18, 2021

In the run-up to Russia’s Sept. 17-19 parliamentary elections, as the authorities have been purging the field of almost all genuine opposition politicians, the battle against dissent is also raging online. In recent weeks, among other measures, the authorities barred dozens of websites linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, including his main website navalny.com. They had Yandex …

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Russian search engine delists Navalny’s tactical voting site after ban

September 12, 2021

Russian tech firm Yandex said on Tuesday it had removed jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s tactical voting website from its search engine to comply with a government ban ahead of a parliamentary election this month. Navalny and his allies want to use the website and a separate app, dubbed ‘Smart Voting,’ to organise a tactical …

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Online video leader IVI raises $250 million from state and private investors, keeps western IPO potential

October 7, 2021

Russian online video major IVI (ivi.ru) announced today a $250 million funding round involving top state and private investors. This is one of the biggest deals of the past years on the Russian tech scene, and an all-time record in the online video segment.   The consortium of investors includes several big names, combining two major …

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Russia considers mandating foreign IT companies to open local representative offices

September 17, 2021

A draft law has been submitted to the Russian State Duma that will oblige foreign IT companies to open full-fledged representative offices in Russia. Hosting providers, advertising systems operators, and “online information distributors” are concerned as well.  Should such a law be adopted, foreign companies with a daily traffic of 500,000 users from Russia or more will …

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Russia gives Google 24-hour ultimatum to remove banned content

May 25, 2021

Russia’s internet regulator has threatened to slow down Google services in Russia if it does not comply with requests to delete content within 24 hours. According to Roskomnadzor, Google has failed to remove 20-30% of links to content which are prohibited in Russia — a controversial category which includes content promoting drug use and featuring …

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