The State Duma of the Russian Federation in the second and third readings approved amendments to the law “on communications”, which will allow the FSB to disconnect any type of communication in any region and at any time.
According to the document, operators will be obliged to suspend the provision of services upon receipt of requests from the FSB in cases established by regulatory legal acts of the President of Russia.
Initially, the draft law stated that the FSB could send “requests” to block communications “in order to protect citizens and the state from emerging security threats,” but by the second reading “request” was replaced with “requirements,” and the part about protecting the public from “security threats” was completely removed.
According to lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov, once the amendments are approved, the reasons for blocking communications will not be limited. “It is faster, unleashes the hands of the president, as he will define such cases,” Smirnov emphasised in a comment to the Russian publication “Agency”.
A bill on the FSB’s right to restrict communications was introduced in the Russian State Duma in November 2025. State agencies, citing a source, wrote that the initiative aims to free operators from responsibility for disabling communications due to drone attacks.
In addition, Russia plans to create a database of mobile devices (unique IMEI numbers). Communication will be provided only to those devices whose numbers are included in the register. Dmitry Ugnivenko, deputy head of the Mintsfira, earlier spoke about plans to create a register of mobile devices in order to more effectively block Ukrainian drones, as some devices use SIM cards during the flight to the target. As the Kommersant business daily wrote, the FSB approached the Ministry of Defence with a proposal to create a register of numbers.