What you can be punished for online: a map of offences
The guides below are drafts: a lawyer has not reviewed them yet. This is not legal advice.
How to read this map
- administrative vs criminal liability
- 'administrative prejudice': a repeat after a fine becomes a criminal case; a person is 'considered punished' from the decision until a year after the fine is paid (CAO art. 4.6)
- limitation periods and 'continuing' offences: for a post still online the clock starts when it is found
- reference only, not legal advice
How people are found
- denunciations by neighbours, colleagues, followers
- social media monitoring by Center E and the FSB
- phone checks at the border and on arrest
- Rosfinmonitoring and bank data
- provocateurs in chats and fake 'Ukrainian handlers'
What to do
- Assessing old posts. Go through your accounts, especially VKontakte: reposts of and links to designated organisations, their logos and symbols, photos of Navalny, rainbows, a yellow-and-blue flag avatar, comments under news of attacks and arson. Human rights groups warn that even what was legal when posted is risky: a post counts as a continuing offence.
- What deleting does. While there is no case, deleting lowers the risk of new protocols and may count as mitigation if you are prosecuted. But if the post has already been recorded (screenshot, inspection report), deleting will not cancel the case. If a protocol or case already exists, delete nothing without a lawyer.
- Private chats and denunciations. Words in messages, a building chat, a messenger status or said aloud have all led to cases. Human rights groups advise treating large chats as public, remembering that a detained contact's phone can expose your messages too, and that changing a Telegram username does not change the account ID.
- VPN and searches. Using a VPN is not an offence in Russia, but committing a crime with one is an aggravating factor. Searching for 'extremist materials' is fined under 13.53; searches were found during phone checks. Human rights groups advise not using Russian search engines or browsers for such searches.
- Subscriptions and reactions. OVD-Info knows of no Russian case over a subscription alone, but subscriptions are checked when phones are inspected. A like can be a trigger where others can see it; an Odnoklassniki 'like' counts as a repost. Paid reactions count as money transfers. In Belarus, subscriptions and likes bring fines and arrests.
- Commenting under foreign media. Per OVD-Info, reading, following and commenting on 'undesirable' outlets is not yet banned, but a repost, link, retelling or an interview under your name can lead to a 20.33 case. A public comment under any outlet can lead to a 'discreditation', 'fakes' or 205.2 case.
- If you have left. Under CAO art. 1.8, cases for 'discreditation', 'undesirable' organisations and some other articles can be brought for acts abroad, and an unpaid fine can trigger measures under Law 284-FZ. OVD-Info suggests considering paying the fine, getting a second passport and not keeping money in Russian accounts. Human rights groups advise deciding this with a lawyer.
Where to get help
- Net Freedoms Project (@nfp_hotline)
- First Department (bot)
- OVD-Info (bot). Designated 'extremist' in Russia: the organisation itself considers that asking for advice is not participation, but write from a device you will not hand over if detained
- RosShtraf (fines)
- for Belarus: Human Constanta, Viasna