Decision by the Federal Bureau of Yabloko, adopted on 29.01.2026, published on 30.01.2026

Photo: the State Duma of the Russian Federation / Photo by Eduard Kornienko, Izvestia

The State Duma has passed in the first reading amendments to the Law “On Communications” that provide for the possibility of suspending the provision of communication services at the initiative of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

The amendments introduce two provisions. Firstly, telecommunications operators are obligated to suspend the provision of services upon receiving a corresponding demand from the FSB “for the purpose of protecting citizens and the state from emerging security threats”. Secondly, telecommunications operators are exempted from civil liability for non-performance or improper performance of their contractual obligations if this is due to compliance with FSB demands.

Both provisions appear to us unacceptable.

The draft law does not contain any clear definition of what exactly constitutes “security threats”, leaving this entirely to the FSB’s discretion. Experience shows that FSB bodies are inclined to interpret the concept of “security” extremely broadly, which means that “threats” will be interpreted just as broadly. This amounts to granting the FSB unlimited powers, which is unacceptable and incompatible with the principles of a law-governmed state.

Additionally, it should be noted that the suspension of communication services, according to the draft law, will occur “in cases established by regulatory legal acts of the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation”. The corresponding regulatory legal acts have been announced as classified in advance – as government representatives have stated, “enemies must not know about them”. However, this directly contradicts Article 15, paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation: “Any regulatory legal acts affecting the rights, freedoms and obligations of individuals and citizens cannot be applied if they have not been officially published for general knowledge”.

The exemption of telecommunications operators from liability to subscribers in the event of disconnection at the FSB’s demand means that millions of citizens will find themselves not only deprived of access to free information, but also of the services they have paid for. Moreover, they will have no effective mechanisms for protecting their rights, nor any opportunity to appeal the decision taken.

In no country in the world, except for states with totalitarian regimes, are communications disconnected under the pretext of “security” – even if the country is subjected to actual terrorist attacks. Security in a law-governed state cannot be achieved at the expense of eroding legal guarantees, opaque decision-making mechanisms and shifting responsibility from the state to citizens.

We believe that communications today are not a privilege granted by the state, but part of the basic infrastructure necessary for life support: access to emergency assistance, medical services, work, education and freedom of information.

The state’s responsibility for ensuring the security of citizens must not lead to depriving them of these capabilities.

Over the past year, in many regions of Russia we have observed lengthy disconnections by local authorities of mobile Internet and mobile communications under the pretext of protection from various threats, which has caused citizens enormous difficulties. If the said draft law is adopted, these practices will be legalised, and citizens will lose even the opportunity to appeal against being deprived of the communications they need.

The draft law passed in the first reading must either be fundamentally revised to ensure citizens’ rights, or rejected.

Freedom and security are not mutually exclusive values. It is precisely in moments of crisis that the state is obliged to act with particular care, relying on the law rather than on the expansion of powers without sufficient guarantees.

Nikolai Rybakov,

Yabloko Chairman