On February 2, the Moscow metro said passengers may be selectively asked to show their phones at entrance checks. Officials say the measure implements a Transport Ministry order. Similar rules are already in force in St. Petersburg, where Vice Governor Kirill Polyakov has linked them to tighter security.
The first reported cases in the St. Petersburg metro appeared in August 2025. Transport security staff asked passengers to show a smartphone with the screen switched on, and in some cases people with dead or nonworking devices were denied entry. Moscow publicly announced the practice only in late January, although rights advocates reported isolated incidents of similar demands as far back as 2022.
The legal basis is Transport Ministry Order No. 34, which took effect on March 1, 2025. It explicitly states for the first time that during screening of electronic devices, staff may require them to be switched on to confirm they work. Officials justify the change as an anti-terrorism measure: the metro is being treated, in terms of threat level, similarly to airports, and the checks are meant to prevent explosive devices disguised as electronics from being brought inside.
The rules apply not only to smartphones, but also to laptops, photo and video equipment, and in practice, as reported in St. Petersburg, other electronic items including wireless headphones. At the same time, specialists question how effective the measure is in practice, and there is no public data on incidents it has prevented.
“They may ask you to show the contents of your phone, but they cannot force you. A metro employee has no right to demand your password or require you to unlock the device,” lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov of First Department told Novaya-Europe.
Lawyers stress that checking whether a device functions is not the same as gaining access to personal data. If a passenger refuses to show the contents of a phone, they may simply be denied entry to the metro. Rights advocates also warn that if security services take a special interest in a person, pressure may be applied through administrative charges, although the publication’s source said he was unaware of such cases specifically in the metro.
Against that backdrop, rights advocates recommend using a separate device in potentially risky situations. Internationally, routine checks of personal gadgets in urban transport are uncommon: similar measures have mainly been used in aviation, where passengers on some flights were selectively asked to switch on electronics before boarding.