OREANDA-NEWS  At the meeting, the State Duma adopted Law No. 755710-8 in the third reading, regulating administrative liability for owners of VPN services, as well as imposing fines for purposefully searching for materials prohibited in Russia.

This law supplements the Administrative Code with Article 13.53 on liability for intentionally searching the Internet for "knowingly extremist materials" included in the list of extremist materials and gaining access to them, including using a VPN. This will entail the imposition of a fine on citizens in the amount of three thousand to five thousand rubles.

Sergei Boyarsky, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, commented on the law and noted that the amendments penalize the deliberate search and use of extremist materials listed by the Ministry of Justice. "There are about 5.5 thousand such materials in it now," he recalled.

Facebook Instagram The head of the committee drew attention to the fact that the law does not provide for fines for using Instagram and Facebook banned in Russia using a VPN.

Anton Gorelkin, first deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on information policy, also explained that "the very fact of using a VPN will not be considered an offense."

The law provides for a fine only for purposefully searching the Internet for extremist materials, Ernest Valeev, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, told reporters. "If you don't purposefully search for extremist materials, there's nothing to be afraid of," he assured.