Despite the protest of the Human Rights Council, mobile companies and other organizations, the Federation Council has approved the legislative amendments aimed at eliminating terrorism by way of criminal repression and mass surveillance. In particular, the amendments criminalize such acts as failure to inform the authorities of a crime, international terrorism, facilitation of extremism, inducing into mass disorder, etc.

The most controversial amendments, however, establish the obligation of mobile and internet companies to store all traffic of every user (including video watched), messages and conversations for up to 6 months, while “metadata” (the information about the calls, messages, etc. as opposed to their actual content) – for 3 years. All internet services using cryptography will have to assist the authorities in accessing such private messages upon their request under the pain of fines.

The Human Rights Council has already addressed President Putin requesting that the President exercises his veto rights to return the bill to the State Duma for further discussion. There are concerns that the changes may result in mass violations of human rights and further deterioration of Russia’s relationship with the European Court of Human Rights.