SIM card, phone number, Gosuslugi, banks

The guides below are drafts: a lawyer has not reviewed them yet. This is not legal advice.

Draft Safety

For anyone with a Russian number linked to Gosuslugi, banks and messengers, in Russia or after leaving.

A Russian number is registered to your passport, so it identifies the account owner. Hide it in Telegram and on social media.
Where possible use a password plus an authenticator app instead of SMS codes.
Never hand your SIM card, bank card or account access to others and never use other people's: Russia has made passing on cards and accounts a crime, and someone else's SIM does not protect you.
Never tell anyone an SMS code, whatever they claim to be.

For accounts linked to civic activity use your own foreign number and a foreign email provider.
Every Gosuslugi login, IP address and device is recorded and visible to the state.
Banks see transfers, recipients and payment comments and share them with the security services and Rosfinmonitoring.

Don't use or lend SIM cards, documents or Gosuslugi accounts.
If a case has been opened, a report drawn up or your phone seized, don't delete anything without a lawyer: deletion can be used against you and won't remove what the authorities have already copied.

Operators keep call and message records and location data for 3 years; since 1 January 2026 Russian internet services on the 'information dissemination organisers' register must keep message metadata and user data for 3 years too (previously 1). Banks keep transactions for years.

Situations this guide covers