Phone being checked

• Agree with a lawyer in advance what to do if you are asked for your phone or passcode. With grounds, officers may search you (art. 27.7 CAO), but may seize a phone only with a written record. The law does not expressly require you to unlock it or give a passcode.
• Since 23 July 2025 the law (257-FZ) allows border guards to inspect 'things and objects'. The law does not mention devices, but the FSB reads it as covering phones and laptops. Refusing to hand a device over is punished with a fine of 5,000 to 7,000 roubles or up to 15 days' arrest (art. 18.7 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The law does not allow them to demand that you unlock it, but in practice they do: agree with a lawyer in advance how to answer.
• There have been cases over phone contents: 'searching for extremist materials' (art. 13.53 CAO), Telegram 'stars' sent to channels designated as terrorist, donations to Ukrainian medics.
• Prepare a phone for travel weeks in advance. It should look ordinary: apps, photos, chat history. A completely empty phone may raise questions, but if there was no time to prepare an ordinary one, an empty phone is still better than your main one. Turn off biometrics and use disappearing messages. Remove subscriptions and donation screenshots well in advance, not just before the border. If a case has already been opened against you, don't delete anything without a lawyer. Bank and cloud records remain.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: Meduza: how to prepare your phone for the Russian border (undesirable); The Insider: border guards may inspect gadgets and fine refusals, but may not demand unlocking (in Russian) (undesirable); OVD-Info: what to do at the border (in Russian) (extremist)