Russia’s Digital Ministry has drafted amendments to the Law on Communications that would require telecom operators to suspend subscriber services at the request of the FSB if such measures are deemed necessary to protect the state and citizens from security threats. Vedomosti reported this, citing government sources and a person close to the relevant commission.
The changes are planned for Articles 44 and 46. According to the newspaper, the draft has already been approved by the government commission on legislative activity and coordinated with the Interior Ministry, the FSB, the Economic Development Ministry, and Rospotrebnadzor. Opinions on the document were also issued by the Justice Ministry, the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the government, and the president’s state legal directorate. The largest telecom operators declined to comment.
The draft says operators must comply with an order from the security service, while the specific situations will be defined in acts of the president and the government. Operators already provide subscriber data and assist with operational-search measures through the SORM system, but a direct universal legal requirement to suspend services upon a simple request has until now either been absent or insufficiently defined.
In essence, the authorities want to be able to forcibly disconnect specific subscribers from calls, internet access, SMS, and number servicing, while also legalizing the existing practice of shutdowns and narrowing communication channels, cyber lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan told Novaya-Europe.
The expert links the initiative to a broader effort to formally codify earlier restrictive measures, including white lists, traffic throttling, and partial or full internet shutdowns. In his view, since spring 2025 operators have been receiving disconnection orders from different agencies, creating confusion and delaying the restoration of service. Darbinyan also argues that the amendments create legal immunity for operators: the draft releases them from liability to subscribers for breaching contract terms if services are halted in compliance with security service orders.
According to the lawyer, restrictions on mobile internet in Russia have been regularly justified by the threat of drone attacks since May 2025. At the time of publication, such cases had already been reported in 51 regions, with regional operational headquarters often initiating the measures. Darbinyan says the new bill affects citizens’ right of access to information and entrenches an approach under which communication services may be provided not always and not everywhere.