A bill adopted by the lower house of the Russian parliament 4 July will require Internet companies that store personal data on Russian citizens to locate such data on servers inside the country, The Moscow Times reports.

Russian officials contend that requiring the use of Russian servers reduces citizens’ susceptibility to cybercrime and fraud. Read More »

On 6 June, Transitions launched a new crowdfunding campaign on IndieVoices,  Weathering the Storm: The Dangers of Going Green in Putin’s Russia, to raise money for Ecoreporter.ru.

As the space for independent media in Russia continues to shrink, journalists face career and, in some cases, life threats for reporting on certain issues. Read More »

A new Russian law will go into effect on August 1, 2014, that requires a wide array of websites and online services to register formally with the government. Sites and applications that allow Internet users to communicate will be obligated to store the past six months of user-data on servers located inside Russia, making the information available to Russian law enforcement. Read More »

In a partnership announced in February, Google and Yandex, the most popular search engine in Russia, will cooperate to allow their respective advertising platforms to access each other’s inventory.

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This post is part of RuNet Echo, a Global Voices project to interpret the Russian language internet.

After more than a year of rumors, the stockholders of Russia’s largest online social network, Vkontakte, have finally fired founder and CEO Pavel Durov. Read More »

This post is part of our Special Coverage Ukraine’s #Euromaidan Protests.

Almost a week after being ousted, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych surfaced in the Russian Federation, while Russian military forces have flooded Crimea, an autonomous region of Ukraine located on the Crimean Black Sea peninsula. Read More »

Russian users of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies could be prosecuted for money laundering and financial terrorism, the Russian central bank said 27 January, Bloomberg reports. Read More »

This article is part of an extensive RuNet Echo study of the North Caucasus blogosphere. Explore the complete report and personal stories on The Caucasus Network page.

Russian is the lingua franca that bridges the republics of the North Caucasus. None of the many indigenous non-Russian languages dominate any of the blogging platforms in the North Caucasus, even the forums dedicated exclusively to regions’ internal issues operate in Russian. Read More »

Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny joined the Sochi anti-corruption campaign this week, launching an interactive website outlining what he calls the “true costs” of the Olympic preparations in Sochi. Read More »

Russia’s Interior Ministry says it has arrested the creator of the infamous Blackhole tool used to install malware on computers around the world and steal login information, IDG News Service reports. Read More »

Amid spying concerns after the revelation of U.S. security agencies’ wiretaps of foreign leaders, Russia is considering making its officials give up their iPhones in favor of a new smartphone made by the Russian firm Yota, RIA Novosti reports.

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Russia states that replacement of internal passports with new ID cards would give more than 120 million Russians access to electronic services, Itar-Tass reports. These services might include obtaining certificates and statements from public offices, online registration at the place of residence and electronic voting. After the introduction of electronic ID cards, citizens will be able to complete all of these procedures online instead of standing in queues for hours at public offices.

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Two Russian investigative reporters have uncovered plans for extensive monitoring of electronic communications during next February’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Guardian reports. Read More »

Throughout the Moscow mayor’s race, Alexey Navalny’s campaign has taken a beating from all sides on questions about financing, nationalism, and even transparency. Read More »