Legislation & regulation

Telecom regulator Roskomnadzor wants Google, Facebook and Twitter to register

October 1, 2014

The Russian Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) has informed Facebook, Gmail and Twitter that they must register in Russia as “organizers of distribution of information,” according to Russian legislation. “We informed them and one way or another we will force them to follow the law,” …

Telecom regulator Roskomnadzor wants Google, Facebook and Twitter to register Read More

Interior ministry seeks ways to track Tor user data

July 24, 2014

Russia’s Interior Ministry is offering nearly 4 million rubles ($114,000) for research on ways to get data on users of the anonymous web surfing network Tor. The announcement, posted on the government’s official state procurement website earlier this month, comes amid a massive upsurge in Russian users of Tor, which allows Internet users to anonymously visit websites blocked in their country.

First charge recorded in a non-FSB-sanctioned foreign smartphone purchase

July 23, 2014

Russia has witnessed its first case brought by the federal customs service against a local resident for trying to order a smartphone from a foreign online store. Eugene Yarutkin, a resident of Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk region), was given the dubious honor when he ordered a Motorola Moto G with a data encryption feature from a German …

First charge recorded in a non-FSB-sanctioned foreign smartphone purchase Read More

New personal data storage rules to affect both foreign and domestic players – but still no “Chinese wall” surrounding Russia

March 5, 2019

Some foreign players panicked last week when they learned about the new rules adopted by the Russian parliament regarding the collection and storage of personal data – which will be allowed only on Russian territory starting from Sept. 2016. Concerns were fuelled by inflated media reports, including a Google Translate-based article that appeared on an …

New personal data storage rules to affect both foreign and domestic players – but still no “Chinese wall” surrounding Russia Read More

Russian cross-border e-commerce platform Shopfans.ru to bypass new customs rules via Kazakhstan

July 2, 2014

Earlier this week Shopfans.ru, a Russia-focused mail-forwarder and marketplace for US retailers, informed its consumers about a new delivery option to Russia through Kazakhstan, Russian newspaper RBK Daily reported. With both countries members of a customs union, this transit service allows buyers to circumvent the 150-euro tax-free limit  on purchases from foreign retailers, which the …

Russian cross-border e-commerce platform Shopfans.ru to bypass new customs rules via Kazakhstan Read More

Visa and MasterCard to participate in Russia’s new national payment system

May 29, 2014

Visa and MasterCard will continue to operate in Russia, the companies’ representatives told journalists last week at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, following a meeting with Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov. Visa and MasterCard executives had expressed concern about the consequences of new rules recently adopted by …

Visa and MasterCard to participate in Russia’s new national payment system Read More

Russian authorities vs. Twitter: Threat of censorship over, or just over for now?

May 27, 2014

The Russian government demonstrated earlier this month that it not only knows how to obstruct Internet freedom, but also uphold it. A high-level government official who appeared to have threatened to block Twitter in Russia has been officially reprimanded. Maxim Ksenzov, the Deputy Director of Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom market watchdog, complained on May 16 …

Russian authorities vs. Twitter: Threat of censorship over, or just over for now? Read More

New rules on user identification may significantly affect cross-border payments from Russia

May 23, 2014

On May 16, amendments to the Russian legislation on payments came into force with potentially far-reaching consequences for e-payment and e-commerce companies working with Russian customers – including those operating from abroad. The amendments, included in an “anti-terrorism” package adopted by the Russian parliament on May 5, make user identification mandatory for electronic payments in …

New rules on user identification may significantly affect cross-border payments from Russia Read More

Medvedev on Russia’s response to the West’s “Soviet” approach to business

May 20, 2014

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has spoken out on a number of internet and business related issues in a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg’s Ryan Chilcote. In the run up to the St Petersburg Economic Forum, which will go ahead without many Western CEOs warned by their governments to stay away, Medvedev accuses the West of …

Medvedev on Russia’s response to the West’s “Soviet” approach to business Read More

Visa, MasterCard better off quitting Russia, Morgan Stanley says

May 15, 2014

New legislation placing foreign payment service providers under the thumb of Russian regulators is so damaging to Visa and MasterCard that the two U.S. companies might be better off abandoning the Russian market, according to research by investment bank Morgan Stanley. Compliance with the new law will cost Visa and MasterCard at least $2.9 billion, …

Visa, MasterCard better off quitting Russia, Morgan Stanley says Read More

On the blogosphere, in classrooms and across Internet service providers, Russian authorities introduce new restrictions to Internet freedom

May 12, 2014

The Russian-language Internet, which had remained an area of relatively free expression until recently, may soon see its landscape thoroughly reshaped. Haunted by newly resurrected images of the West as an adversary both on and offline, the federal authorities are putting together a package of new internet restrictions, which opposition-minded observers see as the prelude …

On the blogosphere, in classrooms and across Internet service providers, Russian authorities introduce new restrictions to Internet freedom Read More

New law establishes national control of bank card transactions – without banning Visa and Mastercard

April 29, 2014

This past Friday, the Russian State Duma passed a law to create a national payment card system, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. The law took the form of amendments to existing legislation adopted in 2011. The new rules will ensure “uninterrupted transfers of monetary funds within the payment system on the territory of Russia,” …

New law establishes national control of bank card transactions – without banning Visa and Mastercard Read More

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