Redazione RHC : 2 August 2025 07:56
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law establishing administrative liability for VPN service owners and introducing fines for those who deliberately search for and gain access to extremist material.
Last week, bill No. 755710-8 was considered by the State Duma of the Russian Federation in its third reading and approved by the Federation Council. The text of the document is now published on the official legal information portal. The amendments will come into force on September 1, 2025.
In mid-July, it became known that amendments to the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offences had been proposed, providing, in particular, fines for those who “deliberately search” for and access obviously extremist materials on the Internet.
The new Article 13.53 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation provides for a fine of 3,000 to 5,000 rubles (about 50 euros) for citizens who search for and access obviously extremist materials on the Internet, “including using software and hardware to access information resources, information and telecommunications networks, the use of which Access is restricted.”
These are 5,500 extremist materials included in the list published by the Ministry of Justice or specified in paragraph 3 of Article 1 “On Countering Extremist Activities.”
Another new article, Article 13.52 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation(Violation of the Procedure for Using Software and Hardware to Access Information Resources, Information and Telecommunication Networks, Access to which is Restricted, on the Territory of the Russian Federation) provides for financial penalties for owners of software and hardware who access such resources. resources. This definition includes both VPNs and other means of circumventing blocks.
Providing access to prohibited resources will result in an administrative fine of 50,000-80,000 (800 euros) rubles for citizens, 80,000-150,000 (1,500 euros) rubles for officials, and 200,000-500,000 (5,000 euros) rubles for legal entities.
Furthermore, it has been proposed to supplement Article 14.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (violation of advertising legislation) with a provision under which citizens will be fined from 50,000 to 80,000 rubles for distributing advertisements for software and hardware access to restricted information resources (for officials, the fine will range from 80,000 to 150,000 rubles, and for legal entities, from 200,000 to 500,000 rubles).
The bill and its amendmentshave also drawn sharp criticism from MPs and public figures. It should be noted that last week, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, assured Vladimir Putin that ordinary users have nothing to worry about: law enforcement will have to prove that the person was intentionally seeking prohibited information.
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